The Midas Touch
by angelofjoy
Summary: Mulder and Scully are given a case dealing with a serial killer who eats his victims fingers while they are still attached to the body and shaves the victims hair. Though it doesn't seem like an X-file Mulder takes interest. M&S Smut
1. Meeting Place

Chapter 1: Meeting Place

It was midweek and the sun was streaming in the large windows of a small town bank. The summer had been particularly lovely in Virginia and the sun had been shining for days. Cheerfulness was among all those that walked in and out of the bank as the week faded into the weekend. Everyone that walked into the bank was familiar with everyone else and it made for a very cheerful, very non-stressful kind of environment to work in. The air-conditioning was a welcome guest to the people that walked through the branch to beat the heat, but the bright sunlight was a curse to the four young tellers who were stuck inside on this beautiful day.

"Are you going to the beach tonight?" On girl asked the other as they sat staring out the window.

"It's Friday bitches, I'm partying tonight," a young blond bombshell of a woman stated batting her eyes. "I plan to pick up whoever buys me the best drink," she added with a laugh.

"You are such a slut Leslie," another teller stated and the conversation ended as another bank patron walked through the big glass sliding doors.

Between helping members and the lulls that came and went when no one was around, the four front line tellers were pretending to be busy to please their supervisors, but in reality they were on the internet, playing online card games, or dealing with other personal matters. One was writing a letter to a friend, one was staring off into space as the sun shown through the windows, and another was researching her favorite clubs cocktail list.

"First guy to by me sex on the beach tonight will get sex on the beach," The blond whispered to her neighboring teller as she pointed at the cocktail list on her computer screen.

The comment was followed by a fit of giggles before another person walked into the branch.

It was a lazy kind of afternoon before the end of the month rush, which happened to make the banking world quite an unforgivably crazy place.

A young man, in his late twenties but looking younger, walked up to one of the tellers and licks his lips hungrily as he pushed a cardboard box across the counter at her. The teller stared at him in disgust for a moment and then spoke.

"Quarters, nickels and dimes?" she asked him as she looked at the red emblem on the left breast pocket of his work uniform.

People from this same establishment had been coming to the bank and asking for the same thing for years, long before this particular teller had started there, but the established business wasn't of the most respectable nature and though they brought a lot of business to the bank, non of the tellers were entirely comfortable dealing with the employees and least of all the owner. The taboo business wasn't a place that any of the young ladies frequented, and thought the owner was vocal about having anything to pleasure any kind of person, none of them every ventured near that establishment. The coin order however was always the same and the bank was always prepared for the Friday pick up. It was locked up safely in the vault and would ensure that the undesirable customers would be spending much time in the branch to make the girls uncomfortable.

The young teller looked at the man cautiously for a moment. He wasn't new, he had been coming into the bank for months, and every time he had come in Leslie had managed to have him come to her wicket; without fail. He was creepy, he looked like he was permanently stoned and the sweaty smell that came off him was over powering. And he stared; like nothing else in the bank was interesting and it make her very uncomfortable to be dealing with such a person. If he would have been a bank robber he certainly didn't give the vibe that he was coming in to get the money and a terrible sense of dread and fear came over the young teller. It felt like he was coming in to get her.

"Yeah," he said monosyllabically, "same as always." He added staring directly at the young woman.

"Do you need any bills?" she asked.

"Yeah, one's and five's," he answered.

"I'll be right back," the teller was in an annoyed mood and couldn't shake the feeling that he stared at every part of her, seeing right through her clothing. "Scumbag," she hissed as she walked into the back and passed her superior.

"Yeah," he said under his breath watching her every move as she walked away.

When the teller returned she placed the box back on the counter as well as the ones and fives that were written on the paper she found inside the box. She continues to input the transaction into the computer and the man continued stared at her.

The young man placed a wad of twenties down on counter, to pay for the coin order, and watched as the young woman with golden blond hair counted the money for a second time. She seemed disgusted at the idea of touching the bills that had come from this man. Judging by the line of work she assumed he was in, based on the emblem on his uniform, she painted his character without actually knowing him, but it was her job to help this customer and any other scumbag that walked into the branch. Customer service was the key to a good banking experience, and at that point the supervising teller had come out of the office and was watching the dealings that were going on between the two young people.

"Will there be anything else for you today?" She asked as she turned back to her computer trying not the look at the man as he continued to stare at her.

"No," he said but didn't turn away from the counter right away.

The wad of five dollar bills was closer to the teller. She picked them up and handed them to the young man. As she did this her hand touched his and he flushed red as he turned and ran out of the bank.

The sun was still shining when the branch closed and let the young women out into the world, but the young blond was not the same after her dealings with the man. She made her supervisor walk her to her car. She drove away unsuspectingly and hopeful that the rest of her day would not be as strange. Suddenly going to the bar just didn't feel like the right thing to do as she drove hastily back to her apartment. Hiding was on her mind, rather than the easy, enjoyable night she had initially planned out.

The man watched her from an adjoining parking lot. He had been off work for several hours and had returned to the bank to wait for the woman. He could still feel her skin against his and as he waited he became hungrier for no one but her.


	2. Basement Office Revisited

Chapter 2: Basement Office Revisited.

Scully walked into the familiar office as if they had never been away from it. The X-files were reopened they had been busy with other cases but the office had been badly damaged in the fire and so it had been in a state of disarray until they could return. They had been established in another department, temporarily, to continue with their work, but as she walked in the comfort of knowing they once again had their own space hit her and she smiled to herself knowing that Mulder would be waiting down in the quiet basement for her. Surprisingly enough the office had always been a mess of papers, folders, books and photographs and Mulder sat at his desk pouring over something that he looked very interested in, like nothing had ever changed. Scully couldn't even tell that things were different. The office was already a mess, the posters had already found themselves back onto the walls, and Mulder's desk was almost completely covered with anything and everything he could possibly put on it. The rest of the office wasn't as bad but it did not look like a new office. Mulder had already been nesting and he got the office back, as fast as he could, to the way he liked it.

"Morning Scully," Mulder said as he looked up at her. "You look chipper today."

"Happy to be back are we?" She asked with a laughed.

"Its like coming home," Mulder smiled, "don't you think."

"What are you working on?" She asked as she sat down and faced him.

"This has been sent our way," he said handing the file to Scully.

"It doesn't sound like one of our cases," she said as she leafed through the folder.

"People eating people is just too much for behavioral to handle I guess," Mulder said, "we always get the weird ones even if it's paranormal or not, but maybe this time we'll really find Hannibal the Cannibal, doesn't that sound fun?"

"It's a serial case," Scully said, looking at the crime scene photographs, "why are you interested in it. So the killer takes trophies. Why had behavioral sent it to us?"

"Because the killer eats only the fleshy parts of the woman's fingers and takes her hair." Mulder stated. "He eats the meat right off the bones…"

"And someone else wants you to profile it?" Scully asked with a hint of uncertainty on her voice.

"No it's been turned over to the X-files," he said.

"But why, it's not an X-file," Scully stated

"It reminds me of Toombs," Mulder said.

"I'd say more like Donnie," Scully stated.

"I wasn't going to bring him up, but alright," Mulder stated, "it has some similarities with Donnie, but I don't want to lump them together. I think there is something worth investigating here."

"These murders have all happened in the last five years; the bodies are intact minus the hair and the fingers being eating. It's a case of serial killing and cannibalism. How it is an X-file?" she asked.

"And every agent who has ever taken this case has left the bureau unexpectedly following some slight investigation," Mulder said.

"Agents leave all the time, they become too involved in the case, or the case becomes too disturbing," Scully said and shrugged her shoulders.

"You don't have to take the case if you don't want to," Mulder said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Mulder, you are the one that gets all uptight about wasting our time. You really think this is worth it?" she asked.

"It could be a really big break for us," he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"And since when is that priority for you?" Scully asked.

"We need to lay low for a while, make some progress. If we break this case then maybe the Bureau will get off our backs for a while," Mulder said.

"I knew there was something else!" Scully said as she slammed the folder down on the desk, "Alright, I'll go see if I can take a look at the most resent victims. You dust off you profiling cap and get on figuring out our killer," she added.

"The body has been sent to Quantico," Mulder said.

"Yeah I read that," Scully said as she stood.

"Have fun," Mulder laughed.

"Oh always, at least this time I know there is nothing crazy and infectious going to jump out at me," Scully said.

"Yeah it will be a nice break for you," Mulder laughed, "no alien autopsies!"

"Wow, this is going to be so weird!" Scully said sarcastically and walked out of the office.

"And you mean weird because it's not going to be weird at all?" Mulder asked teasingly. "We'll have this case solved by dinner time, then you can get all dolled up and I'll take you out somewhere fancy to celebrate."

"You're idea of fancy is a baseball game," Scully laughed.

"Hey baseball is high culture, woman," Mulder smiled.

"Goodbye Mulder," Scully chimed from the doorway and left.

Mulder laughed to himself and settled back in his chair looking around his office and deciding what to change next. There was a lot of work to do to get the place back to the way he liked it. There were tons of case photos he wanted up on the walls to make it feel like he had never left, and with Scully out of his way, and her feminine touches not to be worried about, he began his task of setting his office to its original state. After all, it was his home away from home, when he wasn't staying at Scully's.


	3. I Know Why They Left

Chapter 3: I Know Why They Left.

The phone rang several hours later as Mulder was pouring over more files and photographs pertaining to his newest case, as well as some older ones. The file seemed very empty, considering the number of murders they were dealing with, and there were many holes that seemed to appear through it, as the different investigations continued. There was really nothing in it for him to profile because so many things had gone missing or were just not recorded. He even began to wonder how the cases were related to each other until he saw the still shot of the girls that had been murdered. They all looked different, nothing appearance wise tied them together. All were young and healthy and looked to be fairly athletic, but that might have been the only physical similarities. Their eyes were different; hair was different and none of them working in the same field. But aside from the difference between the girls there was nothing but eating of the fleshy parts of the fingers and the taking of the girls hair by scalping them along the hairline that made the connections between them. It was no wonder that the case has been passed around the bureau and finally landed on his desk, there really wasn't a case here at all, and Mulder would have to develop his own case from years of nothingness.

The phone rang a second time before Mulder answered it.

"Mulder, it's me," the voice on the other line said as Mulder picked up.

"What have you found, Scully," Mulder asked.

Scully sighed into the phone, it was clear she was on her cell and she was probably still in the autopsy bay at Quantico, "it is an X-file," she sighed again, "you should probably come and take a look at this Mulder, I really don't know what to think right now," she added.

"I'll be right there," Mulder said and hung up the phone.

He rushed as he passed through his office, the incomplete file in his hand and his suit jacket swinging widely over his shoulder as he ran past piles of mysteries sending them flying all over the disheveled room.

Mulder had become very uncomfortable every time he had to go to the training grounds of his youth; especially when Scully called him in on a case that he had passed off as something else. He knew that the professors and students that watched him fly through the halls, knew him by reputation and that they were teaching and being taught by his example, or rather how to not work by his example. They stared at him and whispered as he passed them; they called him Spooky but it was more spooky of them and the way they acted. He knew that his life's work wasn't accepted in many circles but he had seen so much already that he just didn't understand how they could not take his example, and at least keep an open mind as to the mysteries of the universe and the challenges that they may be faced, "I'm not going to be around forever," he whispered to himself as he passed classrooms and students, "some one better teach you how to deal with this shit or we're all screwed."

He walked into the autopsy bay to find Scully standing over the corps. She looked young, lean and beautiful in her light green scrubs, her hair pinned up and held in place more by her mask than the hair clips that hung loosely in her hair. She stared blankly into the nothingness of the dead girls eyes until Mulder broke her meditative state.

"What am I looking at Scully," he asked coming around to stand on the other side of the body.

"An empty cavity of a young woman who died way too early," Scully sighed.

"There were no organs?" Mulder asked looking into the bloody expanse that greeted his gaze.

"I had to lock them up," Scully said

"Why…" Mulder asked surprised to hear Scully's response.

"Because they'd walk right out of here," She said and looked up at him finally, "Before we go any further lets just have a little chat, shall we, before I tell you why this is an X-file," she added.

"Alright," Mulder answered and looked down at the body again.

"Well, cause of death was asphyxiation. The girl was battered and assaulted while she was still alive, then she was strangled by the killer and his bare hands, as you can see from the marks around her neck. Trace was gathered off the body including semen and a partial rape kit," Scully said showing Mulder the x-rays and other tell tale signs off the young woman's body. "There were epithelia's found all over girls clothing and she was raped profusely antemortem, perimortem and postmortem. The eating of her fingers happened postmortem; approximately an hour after death and the most disturbing act by our killer is that he performs the scalping antemortem with an indentified tool. I've sent castings of the tool makings to trace to see if we can determine what kinds of instruments he uses other then his teeth, but I really do believe that he bites off their hair, as well as their fingers."

"Seems pretty straight forward to me," Mulder said having dealt with many cases of the same variety while he was still serving with the behavioral unit.

"Straight forward?" Scully asked shock in her voice, "Mulder this man is a sexual predator. He tortures these women, performs intercourse on them numerous times and tears off their hair with what I can only speculate are his teeth, and you think this is straight forward?"

"Psychopaths and serial killers usually have a tendency to take trophies to keep the bodies close to them," Mulder recited the textbook teaching on behavioral profiling, "probably a young man, loner, Caucasian, and either worked close to the victim or lived in the same area. He probably saw her every day."

"Yes I am aware of that," Scully said, "but now we get to the good stuff," she said and led him across the room to a padlocked cabinet.

"What is in here?" he asked.

"The organs," she answered.

"Keeping them in a cabinet; is that wise?" he asked, "They are going to stink."

Scully didn't answer him; she just opened the door and stepped aside.

Mulder gasped as he saw what was in the cabinet. Lying on the shelf on a stainless steal tray were the heart, the lungs, and all the other primary organs; shining like the sun in the sky and taunting him.

"That's why the file is so bare," Mulder said staring at the golden organs, "how did they become gilded?"

"Not gilded, Mulder, they are solid gold," Scully said.

"That is why the agents left the bureau without a trace," Mulder laughed, "to live in the lap of luxury far away from here because that is tampering with evidence but it would be so worth it!"

"That is exactly how I thought you would react," Scully said watching her partner.

"Wanna take the money and run?" Mulder asked jokingly as he looked at Scully.

"No, I want to know how, without any punctures to the body and without any traces of the gold on the skin, her organs became solid gold," She answered. "On the outside this looks like a Psychopath on the inside it's unbelievable."

"Well ancient mythology tells the story of King Midas," Mulder said still looking at the golden organs.

"Midas had to touch the objects to make them gold," Scully said, "if that were the case this whole body would be gold."

"That would be very James Bond," Mulder said.

"Seriously Mulder, I have never seen anything like this," She said feeling irritated by his lack of interest in this X-file.

"Neither have I," Mulder said, "but at this moment the allure of all that gold is making me rethink the truth. Who needs the truth when you are a millionaire Scully?"

"I can't believe you," Scully gasped.

Mulder raised an eyebrow to his partner, "ok we'll solve the case, and then we take the money and run."

Scully sighed, rolled her eyes and locked the cabinet again, "let's not think of the gold and deal with what really matters."

"Yeah, how does he do it?" Mulder asked. "My profile is all out of whack now. He's probably a millionaire who just chooses his victims at random then jumps on his private jet and flies off to where ever it is millionaires go to have fun."

"If that were the case then there are probably more victims," Scully said, "but I don't think you are right on this one."

"I am never right with you," Mulder said.

"We're not going to get into that right now," Scully said as she covered the corps once again and pulled off her rubber gloves, "this murder was fast and inexperienced, and yet it meticulous and he takes his time, spending it with the body for what I can only guess is hours. I can't definitely give you a time of death, because I can't get a liver temp because it's solid gold. I think your first profile is probably more correct. It is most definitely a crime of passion. It's kinda got me freaked out."

"It's all going to be fine Scully, don't worry," Mulder stated.

"Famous last words coming from you." she stated rolling her eyes. "I hate it when you say that Mulder cause I always end up in compromising circumstances or you end up shot."

"We're going to be fine," Mulder smiled, "and rich."

Scully rolled her eyes again.

"So we are looking for a young man that lives and works near his victims," Mulder said, "and can turn things into gold!"

"Stop thinking about the gold," Scully yelled.

"This is your fault you had to show me the gold and now I am a little obsessed," Mulder said with a laugh.

"So I have to start censoring my finding for you, is that what you are telling me?" Scully asked with a sigh.

"Unless it's alien, I guess so," Mulder laughed.

Scully shook her head and walked out of the autopsy bay leaving Mulder behind laughing giddily like a school girl as his eyes continued to wander to the cupboard that held the solid gold organs.

"Come on Scully, come back," Mulder laughed as she left, "let's talk about this."

"No," She stated from down the hallway causing him to run after her.

"I promise I won't talk about the gold anymore," he called after her.

"No," She practically sang as she walked into the ladies locker room to change and left Mulder to wait for her at the door.


	4. A Murderer Profile

Chapter 4: A Murderer Profile

Max walked home silently dragging his feet and looking at the ground as he always did. The city was becoming dark and the sun was only just visible in the west. It had been a long and boring day at the porn shop, once you've been there for a while even porn gets boring, and now he was on his way home to do what he always did; he would sit around watching the tube and marveling at the fact that he hadn't been caught yet. The starving hunger for blood and wealth coursing through his veins as he stumbled along the familiar path into the slums of the city, another day had passed him by as so many others had done.

The strange metallic taste of the woman's fingers lingered in his mouth as he passed the bank where the girl had worked. None of the other girls in the branch would serve his purpose but it was weighing on the business where he worked. The bank was the primary financial institution for the porn shop and, although they had cash, the bank had been closed for several days because of the girls' death and the investigation. They would be open again soon, he imagined, but their deposits had not been processed and they were running low on coin. He knew he would have to be visiting the bank again the next few days, it would be busy, packed with all the different people who had been inconvenienced by the closure, and the people that packed into the lines would be angry and unfeeling to the girls that would be forced back to work after the tragedy that they had known. Max didn't like the idea of being in the bank when it was crowded and busy, that was one of the main reasons he liked working at the porn shop; though they always made good profits, it was never busy in the shop. People were still too embarrassed to be seen in a place like that, and so the business boomed and was quiet all at the same time. If the bank stayed closed, however, he would have to move on to another bank or financial institution and that would be alright, he guessed, it may even open opportunities for him, but for now he hoped to keep his routine as intact as possible.

Max was never one to enjoy change in his situation. He was a quiet lonely man, who liked his privacy and didn't mind if people felt he was odd, because he was odd and he knew it. He was a scrawny man, tall, lanky, and though his youth had fallen away from him, he continued to be hassled by the physical reminders of adolescence. He looked younger than he was. His face was pock marked and often covered in blemishes. He always had dark bags under his eyes and his hair was always greasy. He was a turn off to most people, and Max like it that way, because there was only one kind of person that he could ever love, and even then it didn't last. His unquenchable hunger drew him toward those perfect ladies, his muses, and when he had the chance he showed them just how much they meant to him, and then they would be gone again. It was satisfying only for a moment and then the hunger would return and Max always wondered if he would find another girl just as perfect as the last.

Returning to the scenes of his crimes was not uncommon for Max. They were always places he went into often enough where a lot of people went to and he was inconspicuous for the most part. Women never really looked at him when he was in places like that; they though he was completely disgusting because of where he worked and that was just fine with him. He knew what he wanted and he could find it when he wanted but the truth was simple; most women just weren't the right kind for him and all the rest he saw as simple and disgusting themselves. The ones that were perfect he left them with a very precious gift but he could never obtain it himself.

He slouched and slumped on his way home to his small and insignificant apartment. Sadly for a man with a Midas touch, of sorts, it only worked one way and that way prevented him from ever obtaining any of the material riches of his impulse. He would not destroy the bodies of the women he loved, knowing what was within the cavities of the corpses, but he could not bring himself to disfigure them any more than he already had. The ladies in his mind were perfect and though he nibbled away the flesh of their fingers and took their hair from them, the bodies remained in the immaculate condition in which he found them, aside for the fact that they were now diseased. The only thing that resulted in any profitable gain for him was the fingers and the hair. He needed the blood and the metallic taste of the digits that handled the money and the elemental coins to satisfy his hunger and feed his abilities, and though the hair caused him additional annoyances it was the only thing that he could use to obtain any of the gold that he created. He could work the hair into capsules and swallow them easily enough. The small rounds of solid gold would be retrieved in his stool and because they were untraceable and the price of gold was doing fairly well he was rewarded for his trouble. Even though he didn't make a lot, the gold was enough to help him live comfortably and secretively enough. He really only held down the job at the porn shop for a cover, an alibi, and a supplemental income for the times between his hunger lust and his killings.

As he walked he though about the girls and the way he had killed them. He heard their screams and saw the fear in their eyes as they struggled against him but he was able to subdue his victims. They were always alive for his lustful advances, for the removal of their hair, the screams brought him back to himself and lust and hunger took over again. He killed them mid act, the pressure building between their bodies as he stole their breath and their organs became the prize that he coveted. He was compassionate enough to kill them before the organs failed them and they slipped into eternity without much struggle at all. He would then take the only thing that meant little and only gave him the taste of what he had done. He savored the digits that he devoured hungrily like the last meal he would ever eat, and yet it was the most imitate part of the act for this strange murderer. He savored every bite, felt the softness of the skin and the tenderness of the meat, and wondered what it would have been like had be been able to have a relationship rather than a moment in passion and felony. He had perfected his method; it was art, beauty, in his mind, as he looked down on the bodies that he left behind. They were no longer the girls that he had come to admire and who called out to ever ember or his passion, but they were still far more special than any living girl that he would pass by. He left them with a gift that even they could not appreciate, but they passed on into eternity by his acts and compassion, so he believe that he had done them good by killing them and sending them on to meet their maker. Max knew that he should pay more attention and be far more careful in his disposal of the bodies but things had gone so well for so long that he wasn't worried that he was even being looking into. He was sure that the sight of the gold that the police found was enough to silence them and put him on his path of safety for now, besides, there wasn't any usefulness left in the women when he was finished with them so why would anyone care?


	5. Differing Opinions

Chapter 5: Differing Opinions.

After seeing that the body was completely documented, stored and the organs placed in the safety of a double locked vault, Mulder and Scully left in search of anything else that may lead them toward the killer of the girl that rested; her family waiting for answers.

"So once we solve this case, what should we do with all that gold?" Mulder asked as the silence between himself and his partner had grown uncomfortable. "Should we take a vacation? Maybe go out and party like we were in our teens. We could run away to Vegas and have a million dollar shopping spree, be like Michael Jackson. Do you think you can spend a million dollars faster than he could?" he asked with a laugh.

"One, I don't think anyone in their right mind could spend money that fast and in excess of that amount, and two, once we have solved this case the remains of the girl will be returned to her parents to be disposed of as they see fit. All of her remains, Mulder." Scully stated.

"Aw come on Scully, do you know how easy life could be with that kind of money. What the parents don't know can't hurt them." Mulder laughed.

"That is completely unlawful and dishonest!" Scully screeched nearly yelling at her partner, "and, furthermore, nothing is easy with you, Mulder, so why would wealth change anything. Do you honestly think, as a millionaire, you would be able to pursue more in your quest for the truth? Do you think you can buy the truth from the men that have so ardently hidden it from you for so long? Money will change nothing, Mulder." She added with a huff and picked up the file again and occupied herself with what was there, rather than dealing with Mulder's nonsense.

"Alright, I get the hint, you don't want to talk about it anymore," Mulder laughed. "So where do you think we should start on this case?"

"I want to go to the scene of the crime," Scully stated flipping through the folder and eyeing the crime scene photos that were within. "We should also see if we can find any surveillance footage of the ally where the body was found. It's a rather crowded area; someone was bound to have footage of the ally. Also, I think we need to speak to her coworkers, especially the ladies that were the last to see her alive. It may be beneficial to our investigation to see if anyone unusual was coming around. I don't believe this was just a simple act of passion, but rather, it's calculated and planned. This girl, as well as all the others, meant something to our killer. We need to know what."

"I agree," Mulder stated contemplatively. "I'd also like to know, scientifically, how it is possible for organs to be turned into gold. Do you have any idea how it might have happened? Is it even possible in natural circumstances for flesh to be turned into gold?"

"I'm not sure," Scully stated. "You'd have to talk to a geologist. I would imagine that someone in that profession would be able to tell you exactly what you want to know about gold."

"Do you realize that this may be the proof we need to justify the fairy tale?" Mulder asked excitedly. "What would it mean if there was truly a man, documented in the literary tradition, who could turn anything he touched into gold? Midas could be justified once and for all."

Scully rolled her eyes from her place and Mulder caught the action in the rearview mirror.

"You aren't in the least bit interested in this possibility?" he asked her as he continued to drive.

"Mulder, honestly, a fairy tale is a fairy tale and an X-file is an X-file. If you want to believe that you can make the connections between an ancient literary figure and a serial killer that roams looking for another unsuspecting victim, that's fine with me, but my energy will be spent trying to find this guy so that we might be able to prevent this ever happening to another young woman." Scully stated.

"Why do you always have to be the reasonable one?" Mulder asked finally feeling frustrated with his partners lack luster interest in the paranormal.

"Because your imagination runs wild enough for the both of us," Scully stated, "and I feel for these girls. I know what its like to be attacked and to have my life threatened. I will always take this stance on a case like this because these girls need someone to hear them and to help them find peace."

"I want that too," Mulder stated, "but that doesn't mean that we can't also look to the aspects of the case that make it so unique and unlike any other serial case we have ever worked on. In the cases that we have looked at together, though there have been similarities in the way that you've been involved or I've been involved, we've never seen anything like this before. This man has a way of turning regularly fleshy and living tissue into solid gold. Doesn't that fascinate you at all?"

"It does, but in a completely different way than it might fascinate you," Scully stated. "In my case, I want to know how he does it so that we might stop it. Maybe we may be able to find a cure and help this man out."

"Or we could find a way to harness his gold making skills and become rich beyond our wildest dreams!" Mulder stated.

"You have Gold Fever, Mulder," Scully sighed, "and I believe it is affecting your judgement on this case!"

"Why all of a sudden are you so interested in this case?" Mulder asked. "You were the one that didn't believe it to be an X-file and now you are determined to sway me the other way." He added jokingly.

"I'm not swaying you," Scully stated, "I simply want to find this guy, stop him and make the world safe for women of all walks of life."

"You think his only victims have been women?" Mulder asked.

"All we have to go on are the women in the file," Scully stated, "have you found any instances of men being attacked?"

"No, but if we are looking at this from a Midas perspective, technically anything and anyone could be turned to cold." Mulder stated.

"Or we could look at it scientifically and try and isolate the chemicals and minerals that are reacting within the body to create gold in the first place and then we may be able to isolate our killer and what he is carrying that causes the reaction to occurred." Scully stated.

"We could do that, but where's the fun in it?" Mulder asked.

"You are so frustrating," Scully sighed.

Mulder smiled to himself.

"We're on the same page, Scully, don't worry." Mulder laughed. "I'm just bugging you. You do realize that, right?" he asked.

"I know you are," Scully stated still feeling frustrated, "and if you keep it up, you're the one that will be feeling frustrated. Do you get what I am telling you?" she asked.

Mulder fell silent as he realized what Scully was alluding to. Something had changed in their relationship, changed for the better, Mulder had initially thought, but now, as Scully hung the change in their circumstance over his head he realized what his old antics of testing her was going to mean for him.

Scully grinned to herself knowing that he had caught the drift and was dropping the situation. Since the fire, the abduction and the near death experience in the far north Mulder and Scully had been closer than just partners. Their relationship had changed, the shift in their feeling had taken them in a different direction and though they kept it as quiet as possible, there were nights and days of absence that bore witness to their union.


	6. Footage Found

Chapter 6: Footage Found.

The remainder of the drive was spent in silence as Mulder lead the vehicle through the streets of the city and soon the partners found themselves standing in a disserted ally way, staring at the trashed location in which the body was initially found.

"The report says that this wasn't the location of the murder but merely the dump location," Scully stated as she read the file. "The body was found by two members of the wait staff of the restaurant that shares this ally with the apartment building in whose dumpster the body was found."

"Does the apartment hold any significance to the case?" Mulder asked looking at the building.

"Not according to the police investigation," Scully stated.

"How about the restaurant?" Mulder asked turning around and eyeing the line of dumpsters and the low lit back door.

"Again nothing," Scully stated.

"Lucky for us, some armature decided to have surveillance on the back door," Mulder stated pointed to the dim light above the restaurant door and the barely visible web camera that was attached to it.

"Lucky indeed," Scully stated eyeing the camera and then walking around the building to the front entrance.

The restaurant was busy as Mulder and Scully walked through the main entrance and were stopped by the hostess.

"For two?" she asked politely, smiling wider than was necessary,

"No, we'd like to speak with the owner," Scully stated flashing her badge at the girl and watching the change in the young woman's composure.

"Do you mind waiting here?" the young woman asked, Mulder and Scully nodded and the woman disappeared in a flash.

"We should have asked for a table, something smells delicious," Mulder stated as he eyed the specials menu that was posted at the door.

"We're still on the clock Mulder." Scully stated.

"I wouldn't bill this to the Bureau; I'd just like a little double brazed pork with figs and red wine reduction while we investigate. Is that too much to ask?"

Scully laughed, eyed the menu, but before she could reply the young woman returned with a man dressed in his chefs whites and looking flustered and over heated.

"This is my dinner rush folks, I hope I can help you," Man said politely as he reached out and shook hands with the two agents.

"We just want to ask you about the body that was found in your ally and the possibility of seeing the footage from your ally surveillance." Scully stated and Mulder watched as the man's composure changed.

"Follow me please," the chef, and owner, stated and lead the way through the backed restaurant.

Once in the back of the restaurant, away from all the patrons, and stuffed away in a little office that looked strangely like Mulder's basement office, the chef settled down at his desk and began typing away at the computer that was among all the papers.

"The surveillance was mainly for my benefit, I don't want my staff to have any idea that it is there. I suspect some of my employees are taking double and triple smoke breaks on my dime, as well as smuggling out some of my best produce. That just doesn't make for good business!" The chef stated. "Do you know how much Black Truffles are worth?" he added angrily.

"I understand," Scully stated, "we are just hoping that you may have caught the body drop on your camera."

"I haven't been able to review any of my footage for quite some time. Since the body was found and the press got wind of it, my restaurant has been packed. It's very sad for the poor girl and her family but good for business, and I suppose good for you, considering that I delete the footage after it has been reviewed." The chef stated.

"Who found the body?" Mulder asked as the chef continued to type away.

"Two of my busers found it, completely by accident mind you." The chef stated, "my dumpsters are normally adequate enough for the waist that we accumulate, but on that night we needed some extra space and my busers loaded our trash into the dumpster across the ally, that's when they smelled something that wasn't what they would usually smell, even in that ally, and they checked to see what it was. They came to me right away and we called the authorities right after that."

"You did everything you needed to do, but why didn't you give the police your surveillance?" Scully asked.

"It slipped my mind," The chef stated as he shuffled papers on his desk and came up with a stack of blank CDs. "I'll burn twenty four hours before the body was found for you. If there isn't anything there you can always come back and I'll give you more," he added impatiently, "but if that is all you need, I should really get back to work."

"Of course," Scully stated as she watched the monitor burn the information.

"Thanks for your cooperation," Mulder stated as the chef handed him the freshly burned CD.

"If there is anything else, I'm normally in the restaurant so just knock at the back door if it's locked up. It backs onto our kitchen so I usually hear it if I am here alone." the chef stated.

"Do you hear everything that goes on back there?" Mulder asked as he followed the chef out of the office.

"From about 6am to about 3pm, yes, but as soon as my other chefs and saucier show up its just too noisy in the kitchen to know what is truly going on back there. Trust me, had I heard a vehicle pull into the ally I would have checked because it is usually my deliveries but I believe that the body dump happened when my late night rush was at its peek." The man answered.

"I would have to agree with you," Scully smiled, "the body wasn't there long between being dumped and your staff finding it."

"That's a relief," the chef stated as he walked back into the kitchen and the noise of the place caught Mulder and Scully by surprised. It was far more chaotic in the kitchen than they had anticipated. "I just hope that my ally doesn't end up a popular location for the trouble makers and scum of this city," The chef yelled over the noise.

"It's not likely that anything else will happen in your ally," Mulder yelled as he and Scully moved toward the door, "not with all the publicity that this murder has gotten."

"Good to know," The chef shouted and went right back to his work.

Mulder and Scully slipped out the back door into the ally and looked around once more. As the door closed behind them the silence of the ally was returned and they could once again hear their own thoughts.

"Does the police report say anything about a location for the murder?" Mulder asked.

"Not that I can tell," Scully stated flipping through the X-file.

"I'd like the check the girl's apartment," Mulder stated as he and Scully walked back toward their vehicle. "What's the address?"

"I don't know," Scully stated, "the police never looked into it."

"Alright, but we know where she worked?" Mulder asked.

"Yes," Scully stated. "The body was positively ID by the manager of the bank that she worked at. The girl is twenty four year old Leslie Shwepp and she was reported missing by her manager when she didn't show up to work on Monday morning." Scully stated.

"Then we'll have to talk to the bankers she worked with," Mulder stated.

In the police report the Mulder and Scully found the names and contact information for all of the bankers that were working at the bank the last day that Leslie worked and to further their investigation Mulder and Scully immediately called the bank manager and set up a meeting place. As the dinner hour drew on and they drove the short distance between the restaurant and the bank, they were relatively in the same area, Mulder and Scully began formulating the questions that they would be asking the bank manager.

Arriving at the closed financial institution Mulder and Scully walked back to the security doors and buzzed in as they had been instructed. A sought woman, with vibrant eyes and nervous moments answered the buzz and admitted the two FBI agents into the disserted branch.

"Good to meet you Agents," the little woman said nervously as she eyed the two figures before her.

"Good to meet you as well, Mrs. Cole." Scully smiled and flipped open her note pad, "we have a few questions to ask you."

"Ask away," Mrs. Cole stated leading the agents through the branch and into her office.

"We'd like to know if there was anything suspicious about the last day that you saw Miss. Shwepp alive." Scully stated as she settled into the seat that was offered to her around the board room style table that made up the managers office.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, it was a slow day for us, but Leslie was a bit uneasy that day. Something had transpired between herself and one of our members but it was nothing out of the ordinary. The same member comes to us weekly and isn't the most desirable character. He gives all of my girls the creeps, on a regular basis." Mrs. Cole explained.

"Can you give us a name?" Scully asked.

"We know him as Max, and he works for one of our bigger businesses," Mrs. Cole explained, "he's never caused us any problems, however, but Leslie was quite shaken that day and had asked to be escorted to her car. She left with me and that was the last time anyone saw her."

"Do you, by any chance, know if she made it to her apartment?" Scully asked.

"I can't say for sure," Mrs. Cole stated.

"Do you have an address for her apartment?" Mulder asked.

"I do," the bank manager stated and jotted down the address, she handed the paper to Mulder and waited for the next wave of questions.

"Can you tell us the name of the business where this Max works?" Scully asked.

"He is one of the full time employees of Lakeview Video and Adult Entertainment." Mrs. Cole stated in a hushed voice.

Scully glanced at Mulder.

"Yes, I know where that is," Mulder laughed.

Mrs. Cole looked at Mulder disapprovingly.

"I can understand why your girls would feel uncomfortable," Scully stated as she sharply kicked Mulder, under the desk, to warn him. "Can you tell us anything else about the victim that may be beneficial to our investigation?" Scully added after an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"She was outgoing, a hard worker and was well like by her fellow employees and the bank members. Very seldom was there any problem with the young woman, but she was a bit of a party girl and she liked to make it known. She was, perhaps, of loose morals." Mrs. Cole stated.

"And the porn guy made her uncomfortable?" Mulder asked in disbelief.

Mrs. Cole glanced at Mulder once more disapprovingly before turning to the female member of the team. "When you meet Max, you will understand why he made people uncomfortable," she stated, "but I don't know if he will be of any interest for you. He's just an adolescent looking to make some money. You can't hold that against him."

"We won't," Scully stated reassuringly, "but we are going to look into everything possible avenue to find out what happened to your employee," she added and Mulder nodded his agreement. "You've been a tremendous help today, thank you for your time." She stated finally and stood to end the interview and to lead Mulder out of the office.

Mrs. Cole led Mulder and Scully out of the branch and locked up once again. The sun had set on them, by this time, and their investigation would have to wait until they could find anything new in the locations and individuals that they had accumulated on their first day of the investigation.

Mulder dropped Scully off at her apartment and then headed back to the Bureau to review the surveillance disk that they had obtained from the restaurant. He was hopeful that they would get something off the amateur surveillance tape that might give them some leads into this case because, as of the end of day one, they had nothing.


	7. The Make Up of Gold

Chapter 7: The Make Up of Gold.

Scully walked into the office early the following morning to find Mulder still pouring over the video footage from the ally dump site.

"Have you been here all night?" Scully asked handing Mulder a cup of Starbucks coffee that she had picked up for him.

"Yes," Mulder sighed, "but I didn't watch just this, I did some research into Lakeview Video as well," he added with a wink.

Scully rolled her eyes.

"Did you find anything in the surveillance footage?" she asked.

"A blurry person and a car with a partial plate," Mulder stated, "I've sent it off to forensics to see if they can pull anything off it or sharpen the image at all, but I can't be certain if that is the actually time of the body drop. It might be, but I can't say for sure cause you can't seen anything past the car." He added as he sat back in his chair. "Did you come up with anything?"

"I managed to score us a meeting at the university with the head of the geology. We're going to get a lesson on gold," Scully stated, "so pick up your coat, straighten your tie and let's go."

"Can't you go and I'll stay here and deal with my videos?" he asked with a sigh. "You're the scientist."

"Get off your ass and get doing," Scully stated. "You are the one obsessed with gold."

"Man, when I am a Millionaire, I'll buy myself a new partner," Mulder hissed as he pulled on his coat and walked out of the office in front of her.

"I'm more likely to become a millionaire with my medical background," Scully hissed as she walked out behind him. "I just have to get out of this basement and back into the lab." She added angrily and moved on.

After a short jaunt through the city and onto the main campus of the university, Mulder and Scully found themselves walking though the halls and labs of the geology department. Suddenly a lab coat clad young man stepped out of an office right in front of them and smiled brightly at Scully.

"Well Doctor, it's good to finally see you again," the smart looking man stated as he reached out to shake her hand.

"It's good to see you too, professor," Scully smiled and blushed, "this is my partner, Special Agent Fox Mulder," she added noticing Mulder's uneasiness.

"Nice to meet you, Agent Mulder." the young man smiled. "I'm Doctor Doug McMillan, dean of environmental sciences here at the university. I am under the impression that you have some questions about a very precious metal."

"This is true," Mulder stated, still unimpressed to be back in an academic facility, "I want to know how to make gold so that I can become a millionaire and retire young. What would you suggest?"

"Well gold forms rather simply, but that will not help you if you are not the one to stumble upon it and I have to warn you there are companies out there with the technology looking for it all the time. You would be more likely to find the answers to time travel than you are to finding gold out in its raw and natural forms." Dr. McMillan stated smiling at Scully, "You would be better off sending the good doctor into a private practice and hoping that she has the goodness to share the wealth." He added flirtatiously.

Scully blushed and shook her head, "not likely to happen in the near future," she stated still feeling embarrassed, "I am very content with my current career."

"Tragic," Doug laughed, "so very, very tragic that a brilliant scientist and medical professional, such as your self, would not join in the excitement of the science based world. It is the wave of the future, and all the answers to our past and present are within it, you know?" He smiled.

"I'm still involved in science, Doug," Scully stated feeling a little offended, "I just use it now to save peoples lives, and for now we need answers regarding a case we are currently working on."

"Anything to save a life," Doug stated and ushered them into a lab, "so the formation of gold, or was that a rhetoric comment made by your dashing partner?" Doug asked and eyed Mulder with increased intrigue.

"We do need to know some basic principles of gold. How it forms, what it is soluble in," Scully started.

"Can it be formed in the human body," Mulder stated interrupting Scully's train of thought.

"He's kidding right?" Doug laughed at the idea that Mulder present.

"No, he's not," Scully said seriously.

"No, it can't be formed in the human body, it would be utterly impossible," Doug stated, now very skeptic of the conversation. "Gold forms when heated water, extremely heated water, carrying the minerals in the ground cools. The water is heated by its relative geography to the magma within the earth and the high pressure that can be found within the thermal layers of the earth's core. It's simple enough really. When the water moves through the earths crust and find cracks and crevasse to settle in, it cools and the mineral are deposited forming the element or triggering the minerals that may already be present within the earth. They react with the pressure and the gold is formed. The beautiful thing about gold, however is that it isn't soluble like most metals. It takes a combination of concentrated hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. It's a highly toxic solution when the gold is introduced into the mixture releasing chlorine gas, and other toxins, but you can eat gold and be perfectly fine. It's an amazing material."

"Hypothetically speaking, is there any way that you could stop the formation process?" Scully asked.

"I suppose you could by changing the chemical compound that the gold minerals were being carried by, something like ammonium or peroxide would be acid enough but under the circumstances, I don't see why that would be relevant. When the earth is doing her job she isn't going to be stopped." Dr. McMillan stated, "How is this relevant to the case you are working on?" he asked feel like he wasn't being taken seriously.

"We can't discuss the case," Scully stated, "but I assure you it is relevant."

"Well, unless you are dealing with a Murder right out of a James Bond film, I don't see how the formation of gold will help with your case. It is utterly impossible for gold to form out side of the ideal conditions." McMillan added sounding annoyed.

"Actually it's more of a Midas kind of connection that I've been making," Mulder stated as he shook hands with the professor, "but I like your reference. That was good." he added and walked out of the lab.

"Is he serious?" McMillan asked un-amused by the abrupt end to the conversation.

"He is," Scully shrugged and departed with her partner.

Mulder walked quickly through the research building and back out to the car. He was sure that they had wasted valuable time talking to the flirtatious Doctor and he wanted to get back to the case he had been building in his head.

"I hope you learned something," he stated as Scully caught up to him at the car, "cause all I leaned was that he isn't open to the possibly of the unexplained, and that he was a gigantic flirt."

"Were you jealous?" Scully laughed.

"Yes, and a little uncomfortable, I think he would have come onto me had you not been there," he added with a sarcastic wink and fell into the driver seat. "But seriously, did that tell you anything about our case?"

"Not really," Scully sighed.

"Can I go back to my surveillance now?" he asked.

"No, I think we should check out the girl's apartment." Scully stated, "And possibly the porn shop."

"Oh, can we go there first?" Mulder asked playfully as Scully's cell rang.

Scully answered the phone, ignoring Mulder, and fell silent as she listened, then as suddenly as the phone rang it was snapped shut and she turned to face her partner as he drove. "Sorry Mulder," she stated, "porn will have to come next cause the license plate that you came across in the surveillance came back to the victim. We had better check out her apartment."

"Sounds good to me," Mulder said.

"And the Bureau is going to put out and APB on the car," Scully added, "hopefully we can find it before our killer is on to us."

Mulder nodded his agreement and picked up the cars pace as Scully flipped through the file for the address that would take them to the one location that had been overlooked by the police.


	8. The Scene of the Crime

Chapter 8: Scene of the Crime.

The victim's apartment was swiftly located in a quiet neighbourhood and Mulder and Scully went in search of the land lord to gain access to the young woman's apartment. The short, round man was found, the keys and the apartment number were given and the Agents were left to do whatever it was they had come for. Clearly the old man had not yet heard about the poor young woman's demise or the fact that the killer was still on the loose. Mulder and Scully walked through the quiet building until they found the girls apartment and went inside.

The young woman's apartment appeared pristine. There wasn't a single thing that was out of place. The garbage had been emptied, the bed was made and it even looked like the fridge had been cleaned.

"Do you get the feeling that we are dealing with someone with sever OCD, or has this place been tampered with?" Mulder asked as he peeked into the bed room and found that it looked like a picture from a magazine. "Even the toilet is spotless and there isn't anything left out that she may have used to make herself beautiful."

"There is definitely something going on here," Scully stated as she joined him in the bathroom.

"There isn't anything out of place. Her make up is put away, the garbage's have been emptied, it's like nothing ever happened here," he stated looking around some more. "I mean, I've been to your place and you can tell that someone lives there."

"Are you calling me messy?" Scully asked.

"No, I'm just saying that the things you use every day are always out on the counter." Mulder stated. "Wouldn't you think that a woman who was a social butterfly would have at least tooth paste and a tooth brush that she left out?" he asked.

"I think this place has been cleaned. We should get a forensics unit out here to investigate." Scully stated as she quickly dialed a number into her cell and waited as she wandered through the apartment.

"Hey Scully, what do you make of this?" Mulder asked from a side table that was stationed right beside the apartment door.

Scully walked over, the phone still to her ear and looked at what Mulder was pointing at. In a small dish by the door they found a set of car keys. Scully looked at her partner and raised an eyebrow.

"If the car's keys are here then do you think the car may be as well?" he asked one gloved hand picking up the keys from the dish.

"It's worth a look," Scully said and then was distracted by the voice finally answering her calls.

Finally, once she had given her instructions to get a unit out to investigate, Scully followed Mulder down to the parking garage and began to search for the license plate and the vehicle that was spotted in the armature footage. It wasn't long before they found what they were looking for.

"I think we have stumbled upon the scene of our crime," Mulder stated as he looked into the back seat and then into the trunk of the found car. "It's been cleaned too," he stated as he shut the trunk.

"There will always be trace," Scully stated and peered into the font seat of the car, "we can have this brought back to the crime lab and have our specialist go over it with a fine tooth comb."

"We're going to need to," Mulder sighed, "because, yet again, we have nothing."

"But we may have something," Scully stated as she pulled a manicure set out of her pocket and released from it a small pair of tweezers.

"What have you found?" Mulder asked watching his partner carefully.

"I'm not sure, but I think its gold," Scully stated picking up a miniscule piece of gold from off the back seat.

"How did they get gold on the seat, when the victims organs were turned to gold?" Mulder asked, "And, aside for the devoured fingers and removal of the young woman's hair, there was nothing else done to the body."

"You were really hoping for a James Bond connection, weren't you?" Scully laughed, being very careful with the speck of what she believed to be gold.

"It would make for a good story, don't you think?" Mulder stated. "I could start calling you Money Penny, it could be really fun!"

"I'm content with Agent Scully," She stated rolling her eyes, "but if we are dealing with a James Bond obsessed mutant, then I will start calling you double O." she added playfully.

"Is that what you think we are dealing with?" Mulder asked. "Some kind of a mutant human?"

"I'm not sure what to think as of right now," Scully stated as she placed the speck into the palm of one of her gloved hands and then pulled the glove off turning it inside out and capturing the speck inside the glove, "but I would like to take a look at this under a microscope."

"I'd like to know what else we can find." Mulder stated, "I'll stay here and wait for the forensics team and the tow truck, you go back to the bureau and see what you can pull together."

"You might also want to pull footage from that surveillance camera," Scully stated as she looked past the speck captured in the glove and up at a camera that was pointed right at them and that covered most of the parking area.

"Sometimes you've just got to love big brother," Mulder smiled and left his partner to take her business back to the Bureau.


	9. Another One

Chapter 9: Another One.

Scully had zipped to the bureau and found herself once again in a location which held much comfort to her. She loved working in the lab, loved the science that had been such an integral part of her career, and yet sometimes even her beloved science didn't give her the answers she wanted. Once back behind her microscope and careful not to loose the one precious speck she had found, she laid it out and looked at it through the magnifier. It wasn't long before she realized that the speck was indeed gold and wondered how, if not by coincidence, it had ended up in the back seat of the victim's car.

Scully was mulling over different possibilities, wanting more than ever to get back to the body that was not yet released to the family, to investigate some of her ideas when her phone rang and hear heart dropped. Things would have to wait for another time and another place, because Agent Scully would be performing the duties of Doctor once again, very shortly.

Mulder was just in the process of briefing the forensics team when Scully pulled up to the apartment and headed up the stairs. She had been working in the lab when the vehicle, that they had located, showed up and the dreaded call came in. She cleaned up her station, hung up her lab coat and rushed out to find Mulder.

"What's going on?" Mulder asked as he watched his partner walk down the apartment hall toward him.

"Play times over, we've got another one," Scully stated and watched as the forensics team turned to stare at her. "You'll all be staying here; we'll get another team to assist in the field." She added addressing the forensic team.

"How long ago?" Mulder asked shocked by what his partner was telling him.

"She's been dead for less than twelve hours, from what we can guess. I got the call to head back to Quantico to do the autopsy, the case is ongoing but because of the similarities we are on first response on this one. You can drop me off on the way. You need to get right on this new case; we are only hours behind him this time. Hopefully he hasn't had time to clean up yet."

"Are you sure it's the same guy?" Mulder asked as he turned to leave with Scully, having waved off the forensic bystanders and feeling confident that they knew how to do their job.

"Well the girl hasn't got any hair, or fingers and was dumped in a dumpster," Scully stated as they walked out of the crowded apartment and into the stairwell, "and the police found traces of gold where the girls fingers should have been," She added now that they were well out of ear shot from anyone who may have been eavesdropping.

"It's the same guy," Mulder sighed and rushed with Scully back to the vehicle.

"I'm pretty sure that it is Mulder, and my speck from the back seat of Leslie's car is definitely gold." She whisper as the drive began. "I have some ideas that I didn't look into on the last autopsy, and the visit with Doug may have taught us something after all. What if the transformation is happening all throughout the girl's circulatory system? It means in every vein and artery we would potentially find gold."

"It's a good hypothesis Doctor Scully," Mulder stated driving faster than he intended. "I hope you can prove it."

"I'll be checking this body very carefully," Scully stated as they pulled up to the medical center at Quantico and she jumped out of the car before it had come to a complete stop.


	10. Routine

Chapter 10: Routine

Max had spent most of the night, as he often did, in retracing his steps. The act of killing was easy for him. Once he had found his match his instincts kicked in and when the opportunity was right, he jumped and never missed. But the aftermath took time. Max was very meticulous in his routine to commit his perfect crimes. He wasn't sloppy in any way, and although he wished he could think of a better and more dignified way to dispose of the bodies, he knew that he could at least make his ladies look like they were models to everyone, not only himself. In Max's eyes, each one of his girls was perfect. It wasn't usually until after or right before his ritual that he realized that they might not have been, but he had the ability to fix that once he was through with them.

His murders occurred always in the very same way. He would touch them first, by accident and his body would react to the girls with whom he had spent that one silent moment, and then he would hunt them, profile them, and grow hungry with lust. He would follow them home, sneak in, and over power them. His acts, though premeditated by his unquenchable thirst to taste their blood and to spill his seed, were usually acts of passion. One touch lead to him following his lady home and committing the act. There were many occasion when he never knew their names, but knew from that one touch, that they were perfect.

Once everything was over, however, Max spent a great deal of time in the ritual of remaining with the body. He could never bring himself to look beyond the flesh to see what he knew as within his victim. He could see the gold glistening through the body, he sensed it, and believed that the gift that he had given was more than life could ever give to the girls that stole his heart. He would remain, for a long time, naked with his victim. He needed to feel her grow as cold as stone; his body demanded it, and more than the sensation of intercourse, this time spend naked touching and caressing was more arousing for him. When it was over, and the passion had cooled, so did his feelings for the victims. They became nothing to him but the memory of what they were. He could still taste the blood that he had sucked at so desperately before the blood no longer circulated into the victims digits. It was strange how the reaction occurred, a kiss, a nibble, and the taste of blood was all it took, but those were slow and arduous for Max. He knew that he would not be able to wait, that his beloved did not deserve to suffer long and before he came completely into the body that struggled and strained against him, he cut off her air and with every thrust of his passion his grip on her became tighter until, she was dead and he was satisfied. Things cooled quickly after that and then the real work began.

After dressing the body, because he didn't care to see the naked corps, Max would then dress himself and take the body, in the victim's vehicle, and drop her where ever he could find a busy street and an ignored alleyway. He would then return, and walk through the living space as if he belonged there. Cleaning was a terrible ritual for Max. He hated that he was so dirty. That his skin was oily and his hair unruly, he hated it that no matter what he did, he could not be completely clean, but the girls were always as pure and as perfect as gold. We went to work then, making their living spaces as clean and as perfect as he imagined that they should be like. Ever speck of dust, every bottle and tissue had its rightful place and between the hours of his killing and the dawn, that sometimes came too quickly, he cleaned and when he was satisfied with the state of affairs he left never to return to the scene of the crime again. His work was done and his lust for that one particular lady had moved on to the desire and the unquenched thirst for another, and another. It was a vicious cycle that he just could not be rid of. Even if he wanted to stop killing his body would not let him because could not find relief in any other way.


	11. The Connections Between Victims

Chapter 11: The Connections Between Victims.

It was late when Mulder arrived back at the training facility and walked through the labs to the autopsy bays where he knew he would find his partner. The day had been rough, running from no leads, to a pile of lead and then to dead ends all over again. They needed something or they would continue seeing these bodies piling up, and as he walked into the sterile environment of the medical center and stopped before Scully, waving a file over his head, he wondered what, if anything, she might be able to add to the web of questions that were starting to pile up.

"So are we twice as rich?" he asked as he stopped and looked down at the cadaver before him.

Scully looked up from her work, her eyes telling him just how frustrated and un-amused she had become. Her face was still covered with a medical mask and she was dressed from head to toe in teal green scrubs, but her eyes were bright as they had always been, "if you are wondering about the gold, yes, there is plenty of that," she sighed leaning heavily against the steal tray that held the body.

"Are you almost finished here?" he asked knowing that it would be better to show some compassion before picking her brain with all the questions that were plaguing his.

"I was finished hours ago," Scully stated with a sigh, "but I didn't find anything different that might tell us something so I am swabbing and sampling everything I can think of that might give us something. How about you, find anything that we might be able to use?"

"Well two teams, two apartments, and two vehicles later we have some very minor trace evidence that needs to be processed and this poor girls name." Mulder stated. "But I did get video surveillance from her apartment, because her car was also found in place, and from our other victim's apartment."

"Sounds like you have another long night ahead of you," Scully stated.

"What's got me stumped, though, is how this guy, with all his routines and his actions toward the victim's, chooses one girl from the next. It seems so random. This girl, Emily Clarke, worked at a steal refinery. She was reported missing this morning by her boss when she didn't show up for her performance and safety review." Mulder stated.

"And the other victim's that are in our X-file?" Scully asked.

"We have a jewelry sales clerk, a worker with an automotive manufacturer, and an artist specializing in copper sculptures." Mulder stated.

"And our bank teller," Scully added.

"What do these girls have in common?" Mulder asked.

"Aside for the fact that they were all murdered the same way?" Scully sighed and fell into a chair on one side of the steal tray.

"I just don't get it. I hope I find something in our footage because I don't know what else to go on!" Mulder stated.

"Neither violent crimes, nor the X-files, are helping you on this one, are they?" Scully stated.

Mulder shook his head and sighed.

"I'm glad I'm not the profiler," Scully said sympathetically.

"I'm glad I'm not the doctor," Mulder said with another glance at the mutilated corps on the steal tray.

"I did find something a little interesting," Scully stated, grasping at something that might lighten the mood, "there are traces of gold, like the speck I found, in most of this girls major arteries, I'm going to assume it may be in her veins as well, but I am not going to go about dissecting her entire circulatory system."

"So it travels on the blood?" Mulder asked.

"It would seem so," Scully stated.

"But what is it?"

"I have no clue," she answered with a sigh.

"Doctor McMillan said this is impossible, you realize that, right?" Mulder asked.

"And yet, I believe it because I can see it," Scully stated.

"Do you think her brain is solid gold too?" Mulder asked noticing that Scully had not done a cranial exam.

"If it travels on the blood I wouldn't be surprised to find gold up there as well," Scully sighed. "But I'm not going to ruin my equipment looking for it. My saws and scalpels are already getting dull from dealing with this much gold as it is. Even though gold so malleable, it's killing my equipment."

"And you look really tired," Mulder said compassionately.

"At least I got to sleep last night, you look like crap yourself," Scully stated pulling off her mask and draping the body in a sheet before wheeling it around and storing it in the freezer."

"So I guess I'm not getting lucky tonight then," Mulder whispered seductively into Scully's ear.

"Sorry Mulder, but the friends with benefits clause is null and voice when fatigue is a factor," Scully sighed.

"You could have just claimed a headache and I would have been fine with that," Mulder laughed.

"Sadly I do have a headache, I'm hungry and I need a shower, but I don't think I'm going to make it past my couch," Scully sighed.

"Come on, I'll take you home." Mulder said and followed as Scully left the autopsy bay and headed back into the halls of the teaching facility.


	12. Shooting Range

Chapter 12: Shooting Range.

The next morning, bright and early, having slept very little as the question pertaining to the case continued to build in her mind, Scully walked into the basement office and found Mulder hunched over and drooling on his two day old suit sleeve.

"You seriously stayed all night again?" Scully asked as she shook him awake.

"We have to solve this case," Mulder said groggily.

"Not at the risk of our own health," Scully countered. "Go home Mulder, sleep, eat, and shower because you are starting to stink!" she added as he moved and she could smell him.

"You've dealt with worse smelling things in your life," Mulder said nonchalantly and moved to his printer for a print out he had forgotten to take from it when he dozed off.

"You're right, I have," Scully sighed, "I'm heading back to the lab for some more tests. I'm not sure what I am going to run, but I will try and find something."

"I'll finish with this surveillance and then come and get you." Mulder said once again staring at his computer screen.

"Alright," Scully stated and turned and left the office.

Scully paced the lab, her lab coat trailing behind her. The trace evidence, in their case, had come back. Nothing conclusively could be said about the hairs, the fibers or the miniscule amounts of gold that have been found. The forensics teams determined that whatever trace evidence was left at the scene of the crime, they were certain it was the scene of the initial murders, had been cleaned up and it had been done incredibly well.

"All we have is a burry photo of a guy and the hope that we might get a hit off some hairs the forensics investigators found that do not belong to the victim," Scully said out loud as she paced. "What does it all mean?" she asked the empty room, "and how are these girls connected?"

Having found nothing, and not having heard from Mulder in several hours, Scully decided to try and clear her mind and, while her weapons evaluation was coming up, she decided to spend some time in the shooting range waiting for Mulder and trying to organize her thoughts. She wasn't worried about passing or failing her evaluation, she used her weapon enough that she knew that her shooting practices were sound, but it was protocol to be tested yearly and so Scully hung up her lab coat, gathered her files, and headed off, a full box of ammunition securely stored in her purse.

Mulder waited, his hands in his pockets, as he watched his partner empty her weapon and waited for the go ahead from the supervisor. Scully hadn't realized he was there until he tapped her on the shoulder once she had placed her weapon on the shelf before her and picked a few more bullets up out of the box at her side.

"Remind me not to piss you off," Mulder stated as the target Scully was shooting at zipped toward them and he admired the concentrated grouping of holes in the target. "No doubt in my mind your evaluation will be a pass." He smiled.

"You changed," Scully stated as she rolled the bullets over in her hands.

"And showered," Mulder stated with a grin, "I didn't think it would be appropriate to question a suspect smelling like crap."

"We have a suspect?" Scully asked.

"Indeed we do," Mulder stated and pulled a blurry photograph out of his folder.

"Who is he?"

"I'm not sure but my gut feeling says we should go to the porn shop." Mulder answered.

"Are you sure it's your gut talking?" Scully asked sarcastically.

"Ha, funny," Mulder laughed, "but in all seriousness, I think we should take this photo and this one," he added handing her another burry shot, this time of the same guy with the second victims car, "and we should go back to the bank and see if Mrs. Cole can ID this guy."

"Sounds like as good a plan as any," Scully stated as she reloaded her gun and placed it in her side holster before placing her un-used ammunition back in its box.

"Can I keep this," Mulder asked as he pulled the target from its clip and waved it before Scully. "It will make good wall art in our office."

"Why?" she asked eyeing him suspiciously.

"It's a good reminder not to piss you off," he smirked. "Just look at how accurate you are!"

"There are other things I can do to remind you not to piss me off," Scully added saucily.

"Oh don't I know it," Mulder winked and they walked out of the shooting range together.


	13. Cooperation

Chapter 13: Cooperation.

The bank had reopened and was busy as their members returned to the normalcy that they desired. The bank tellers, however, were still very uneasy when they went back to work and though the case was on going, most of them believed that the killer would never be found. The volume of traffic had increased, as was expected, so all of the staff members were on hand to deal with the influx of people. Most of their patrons didn't bother to bring up the events of the past weeks, or the fact that a second body had been found in as many days, but there were a few tactless people who came in chiming about the murders and wanting as much information as they could get, even though the girls that were working didn't want to talk about the sad state of affairs.

"Did you see on the news that they found another girl murdered like Leslie?" one teller whispered to another as the cue began to dwindle and the two FBI agents walked in the front doors. "She wasn't a banker and didn't even look like Leslie. Isn't it scary? This guy could go after anyone!" she continued nervously ringing her hands together, "it could be that guy that just walked in, or Mr. Butler that just left. You just don't know."

"Shh, the government just arrived," the second teller whispered as Mulder and Scully came up to her wicket and the nervous teller was wished away, nearly in tears, as her fear and anxiety came back to haunt her.

"May we speak with Mrs. Cole?" Scully asked as she looked at the nervous teller and the rest of the girls down the main line.

The girl nodded and stood from her place and rushed off to find the manager. Within moments she was back and leading Mulder and Scully back to the manager office.

"Nice to see you again, Agent Scully, Agent Mulder," Mrs. Cole said cheerfully but was still covering up her discomfort.

"Good to see you again," Scully half smiled and took a seat before the bank manager's desk.

"What can I do for you today?" Mrs. Cole asked.

"We'd like to know if you can identify this man," Mulder said as he pulled two photographs out of his file and passed them across the desk to the bank manager.

"He looks familiar," Mrs. Cole stated, "but I am so little on the front line that I couldn't be sure of whom he is. The best people to ask in this situation would be my front line staff. Would you like me to call them in here?"

"Yes, if it isn't too much of an inconvenience," Scully stated.

Mulder and Scully watched as the manager stood and walked out of her office.

"Want to bet that it is this Max character that gives all the ladies the creeps?" Mulder whispered as he and Scully were left alone.

"No, I don't, but I hope that they can identify him," Scully said and fell silent again as the door opened once more and Mrs. Cole entered with the same young lady that had first brought Mulder and Scully in.

"Do you recognize this man?" Mrs. Cole asked showing the girl the two photos.

"That's Leslie's car," The young woman gasped.

"Yes, it is," Mulder stated. "Do you recognize the man?" he asked the question a second time.

"Kinda, it might be that creeper from the porn shop," the young woman said, "but the picture is so blurry I can't be sure."

"Thank you Danielle, can you send Kristie, in here next," Mrs. Cole stated and ushered the young woman out of the office.

Kristie came next and gave the same answer, nearly crying over the sight before her and having to be sent out on her break to calm her nerves.

One by one each of the front line employees recognized the car, and gave an opinion on the figure in both photos. When they were satisfied with their investigation at the bank and the advances they had made, Mulder and Scully took their leave from the bank manager assuring her that they were making progress and that she could be confident that they would soon have answers for everyone.

The eight front line tellers sighed with relief as they watched the two government agent leave. They had all been into the office one by one and had all identified Max, or the possibility of the person in the photo being Max, but this didn't set any of them at ease. The man that they had identified had been in the branch early that morning with all the deposits and the coin orders for the porn shop, and now none of them felt comfortable knowing that he might come back.


	14. Hunger Lust

Chapter 14: Hunger Lust

Max paced the length of the shop as the day light began to fade around him. He had been working all day and by this time he was counting down the minutes until his boring day could be over. The shop wasn't usually a busy, bustling location by day and usually picked up in the evening, but his shift had him in to clean and restock the shelves with new arrivals and now that that was finished he was ready to just get out. He watched as his pompous, over zealous boss schmoozed with some of his regulars and waited patiently for the clock to tick down and release him into the world.

Mulder walked in, Scully at his side, and was greeted immediately by the owner of the shop. He dropped everything he was doing and walked right over to Mulder.

"Don't normally see you in here Spooky, at least not by daylight," the man chuckled, "or with anyone."

"Not here for pleasure, Jim, I'm working right now," Mulder said as Scully flashed the man her badge.

"You come here often Mulder?" Scully asked, "all those tapes that 'aren't yours' I'm guessing belong to your friend 'Jim'" she added sarcastically.

"No idea what you are talking about," Mulder mumbled.

"What can I do for you fine governmental servants," Jim asked with a smile. "I'm completely licensed and legit here so I don't have anything to hide."

"Good to hear, sir, but we are actually looking for someone." Scully stated as she turned and her eyes caught the man behind the counter.

She nudged Mulder and motioned toward the young man.

"We need to talk to your employee, Jim, is that going to be a problem?" Mulder asked.

"Not at all, his shifts almost over," Jim stated and then turning he addressed the young man. "Hey Max, my friends here need a word with you."

Max for a moment hesitated and then came out from behind the counter. He stared at the floor as he walked and Scully could sense the guilt coming off him.

"This is Agent Mulder and Agent Scully, they're with the FBI," Jim stated as the young man reached out and shook the agent's hands and jumped as he took hold of Scully. There was something very special about her.

"Can we ask you a few questions?" Mulder asked watching the young man carefully as he now stared at Scully.

"Yeah," Max answered.

"Take it in the back," Jim stated as another one of his regulars walked in the door.

Max lead Mulder and Scully into the stock room, his heart was racing and his thought were drawing pictures of the perfect woman who stood beside him. Scully had that something he always looked for. Her hands told him so. The sting and the aroma of the precious metals that she had been in contact with caused him to over flow with hunger, but who was this guy with her?

Once in the back Max fell into an old sofa and looked up at the agents, but didn't speak. He only stared.

"Do you do all of the financial dealings for this shop?" Scully asked looking at the man now and breaking the uneasy silence.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Do you know about the trouble that has been going on there?" Mulder asked.

"Yeah," he answered.

"We have footage of you with the victim's car; can you tell us why you're on our video tapes?" Scully asked.

"That's my apartment," Max stated as he looked at the picture.

"So it's a coincidence that the victim's car is in this picture?" Scully asked unconvinced.

"Yeah," Max answered starting at her and never changing his expression.

"Then how come you are on this different tape, in with another victim's car?" Mulder asked handing Max another picture.

"I don't know," Max stated.

"What were you doing two nights ago?" Scully asked.

"Sleeping," Max stated.

"Can anyone verify that you were at your apartment?" she asked.

"Doubt it," Max answered.

"We can," Mulder stated and Scully pulled a swab and its case out of her pocket.

"Am I under arrest?" Max asked.

"Not right now," Mulder stated, "but if you don't cooperate with us and give Agent Scully the sample she needs, we can have you arrested."

"Fine," Max said and opened his mouth.

Scully swabbed the inside of Max's mouth, feeling more and more uncomfortable the longer she stood near him. When the swab was safely labeled and pocket, Scully stepped back beside her partner and began flipping through the file.

"I suggest you hang tight for a couple of day," Mulder say, "just until we can clear you as a suspect."

"A suspect in what?" Max asked rolling his eyes.

"You are a suspect in our current case; in the murders of Leslie Shwepp and Emily Clarke." Scully stated.

"Who the hell are they?" Max laughed.

"A bank teller and a refinery worker," Mulder stated and watched the young man carefully.

"What the hell is a refinery?" Max asked. "Dude, I work in a sex shop. Unless you are talking about perverts and whores, I don't know what the fuck you are talking about. I only know the bank tellers cause I go there like every day."

"Well we'll soon be able to tell you if you are lying or not," Mulder smirked.

"Whatever," Max hissed and went back to staring at Scully.

Scully felt a chill run up her back as Mulder turned to look at her, "are we done here?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded and they walked back through the shop and out to their waiting vehicle.

Max watched them leave, knowing full well that he had flat out lied to the FBI, but he wasn't worried, he was too hungry for his next perfect lady, one Agent Scully.


	15. Confession

Chapter 15: Confession.

Mulder and Scully headed back to the Bureau in silence. Scully was busy jotting down notes while Mulder drove. It was their usual way and yet for the first time Scully was uneasy. They stopped, parked in their usual place, and began heading into the building before Scully spoke. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the way they arrived or what they had done while out on their investigation, but something had changed in the case, and it had shaken Scully right to the core.

"That guy really spooked me Mulder," Scully whispered as they stepped into the empty elevator and the door closed behind them. "I don't know why, I was fine when I first saw him, but as soon as he shook my hand I got a crazy uncomfortable vibe."

"He seems completely guilty to me, we just have to find a way to prove it." Mulder said nonchalantly. "We should have taken him into custody though; I have a feeling he's going to bolt. We could still organize surveillance on him but, I don't think he's going to be at the porn shop anymore."

"That's not what I mean, Mulder," Scully said looking at her feet. "It was only and hand shake, but I feel like I was attacked."

"What, what's wrong?" he asked looking at her now and noticing the blush on her cheeks and the worry in her eyes. He could have sworn that she was near tears.

"It was like staring at Pfaster and not being able to do anything," Scully whispered, "or like looking at Toombs and knowing he was something out of a science fiction story. There is just something not right about that Max kid and I felt it."

"What brought this on?" Mulder asked looking at her now with more compassion.

"From the moment he shook my hand, Mulder, I was uncomfortable." Scully confessed.

Mulder paused for a moment, watching her and reading her, and becoming more concerned with every passing moment. This wasn't like his Scully; she was never leery like this, not with her skills. She was confident, independent and completely in control, but in that moment she was scared and it was in every aspect of her character. She usually ran head first into any danger that faced them, but this was concern, this was anxiety, and most of all there was hesitation in her looks and her manners.

"You want me to stay with you tonight?" he asked as the door to the elevator opened and they stepped out into the hall of the forensics floor.

"Would you mind?" she asked. "I'll make dinner."

"We have to wait for these lab results anyways," Mulder smirked, "we may as well call it an early night. I haven't actually slept in two days."

"Thank you," Scully tried to smile but Mulder could see that her uneasiness was getting the better of her.

With their work at an end for the day, Mulder escorted Scully back to his car and drove swiftly through the streets. She hadn't been made easy since they had been in the porn shop and he began to worry, but with the prospect of being at home, she soon began to calm herself down.


	16. The Act, Or Lack There Of

Chapter 16: The Act, or Lack There Of.

Mulder watched as his partner transformed herself from an FBI agent to the model of home and comfort. She walked into her apartment still the anxious, uncertain partner that had gotten out of the car, but as she locked the door and changed out of her work clothing she seemed to change a little, like safety was found in the familiarity of her home. Scully was always easy in her apartment, even after all of the horrible things that had happened there, she was comfortable, settled and familiar with every aspect of the small set of rooms that she called her own, and although Mulder had worried initially about his partner, he always felt calmer to see her in her own element.

"What are you in the mood for?" she asked as they gather in her kitchen, Mulder sitting at the small dining set, while she searched through her fridge.

"I think you know what I'm in the mood for," Mulder say slyly staring at her ass as she checked her freezer, hoping the familiarity of their agreement and friendship would put her at ease.

"You'll have to be patient." Scully chimed as she pulled something out and through it into the microwave to defrost. "I'm hungry and a little on edge, so I don't think I'll be very enjoyable."

"I am too," Mulder said after a moment of thought, "I haven't really eaten in three days."

"What?" Scully gasped, her hand resting on her hip as she turned around to look at him.

"I had chips and soda," He confessed, "and coffee, there was maybe a sandwich in there somewhere too, but that's all."

"Mulder you're going to make yourself sick," Scully scolded.

"We'll you know I always have to shake things up for you. If I didn't get sick once in a while, then when would your be able to play doctor?" he teased.

"I'm serious Mulder," Scully stated. "You're not as young as you used to be, and if you keep that up you'll be a heart attack just waiting to happen."

"And I'm going to change the subject," Mulder laughed and shifted in his seat. "Cause you've made me feel like an old man!"

Scully rolled her eyes and busied herself as the microwave chimed and the remainder of her meal began to take shape.

"What are you making?" Mulder asked as he stood and looked over her should at the unknown vegetable that had been liberated from the icebox.

"Its kale," She stated and continued to chop away at it.

"Its lettuce," Mulder said wrinkling his nose.

"Actually it's from the cabbage family," Scully stated, "and its one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat."

Mulder wrinkled his nose again but didn't make another comment.

After a long moment of Mulder watching over her should and Scully preparing her ingredients for their respective dishes, she finally pushed the casserole pan into the oven to cook and stored the salad in the fridge before taking her seat at the table across from him.

"Are you in the mood for wine?" She asked nonchalantly. "It will help loosen me up." She smiled playfully.

"Sure," Mulder answered and watched as she reaching into the fridge and pulled out a chilled bottle of white wine. She then located two glasses and took her seat once again across from Mulder.

"Any idea's as to what we should do next on this case?" Mulder asked as she sipped her wine and the apartment began to fill with the aromas of her cooking.

"I think we're on the right track," Scully sighed, "but there are still so many questions."

"Like what do our victims have in common?" Mulder asked.

"I don't know. They all work with metals?" Scully stated sarcastically.

Mulder stopped and thought for a second and then nodded, "yeah they do, but you could almost say the same thing about anyone."

"Toombs wasn't specific when he chose his victims, he just needed nourishment," Scully stated, "Maybe our guys is the same."

"He's too meticulous and intimate," Mulder shook his head in the negative, "he spends time with the bodies, returns their cars, cleans their living spaces and then disappears. It cries premeditation."

"But how long, I mean the time between these two murders isn't very long. How long could he have been stalking these girls?" Scully asked.

"Good point." Mulder sighed. "This guy is proving so hard to profile."

"Are we even sure that what the video footage is telling us is that Max is our guy?" Scully asked. "I admit, he creeped me right out and that doesn't happen very often, but I just don't know. Unless we can get hard, forensic evidence that he is our guy then what can we do? We don't have enough to arrest him."

"Let's hope we get a DNA match," Mulder shrugged.

"And what about the gold?" Scully asked. "How does it happen?"

"I haven't got a clue, you're the scientist." Mulder stated as the alarm on the oven rang and Scully stood up, interrupting the conversation.

The dinner conversation for Mulder and Scully was light, small talk. The meal was praised for its simplicity and its deliciousness. They talked about work, about baseball, about their respective weapons evaluations, but the case didn't come up again. The time for Mulder and Scully the coworkers had passed and the time for Mulder and Scully friends had arrived. Scully's nervousness and anxiety about what had happened that day had moved on and as they dined and sipped their wine they seemed like two completely different people.

"I'm sure, if anyone even just saw us dining together we'd get in trouble," Mulder stated as he finished his meal and leaned back in his chair sipping his wine.

"We get in trouble for so much I don't know if anyone would even care," Scully stated.

"Oh they would care when it mattered the most," Mulder sighed, "If they took you away from me, I don't know what I'd do. It was hard enough the first two times."

"Oh well, what's the worst they can do?" Scully asked waving her wine glass at him, "I've already been fired, shot at, infected, abducted, attacked, and countless other things I just can't think of right now. So we get caught."

"Yeah, you're right, and if they catch us what can they accuse us of?" Mulder asked. "We're just friends."

"Friends with some pretty good benefits!" Scully giggled. "But I'm barren I don't know how they would catch us."

"You are so sly sometimes," Mulder laughed.

Scully stood, clearing dishes as she went and as she leaned over Mulder to take his plate she rubs her leg against his.

"Are you trying to give me a hint?" he asked feeling the electricity pass between them.

"Did you catch it?" she asked saucily.

"Is this to be business or pleasure?" He asked standing and following her to the sink where she lowered the dishes into it. Before she could turn on the water he rubbed himself against her and again the electricity was felt between them. The dishes would be waiting for another time.

"Its business," Scully cooed feeling him stiffen. "Someday, when all this FBI bull shit is behind us it will be pleasure, but until then, business as usual." She stated.

"You sure didn't make me wait long," he smiled as she turned around to face him.

"This was my plan all along," She cooed and pushed him toward her bedroom.

The distance between the kitchen and bedroom was short, but in that time Mulder had managed to remove his shirt and tie begin his usual course of kissing and touching Scully in every way that he would never be permitted to do while they were on duty. Scully accepted every advance, encouraging him by reciprocating and running her soft hands up his bare chest. He lowered her onto the bed after removing her shirt and examining her lacy black bra with intrigue.

"That's new," he commented as he pulled off her pants and eyed the matching panties.

"Just for you," Scully whispered into his ear as she fumbled with his belt before throwing it across the room and pushing his pants to the floor.

"You are so good to me." He smiled as he climbed on top of her and began kissing her down her neck toward her swollen breasts.

Mulder didn't admire the lacy gift for long as he skillfully removed her bra and tossed it onto the floor, taking her left nipple in his mouth and teasing it with the tip of his tongue. Scully moaned, running her hands through his hair as he moved to her right nipple, licking and nibbling as he went.

Scully could hardly focus as Mulder moved down her body, leaving a trail of soft kisses that were like shocks to her system. She reached out and tugged at the waist band of his boxers as he continued to kiss along her waist to her belly button.

"Am I moving to slow for you?" he asked with a sly grin as he reached down between her legs and felt the wet warmth that he had anticipated.

"Oh Fox," Scully moaned and the sound of his first name pushed him farther.

Mulder removed her lacy panties and removed his own boxers before pressing himself against the fiery red head that called him by name. He sought out her lips again, feeling her wrap her legs around his waist and pulling him to her.

"You know how I like it," Scully whispered seductively as she swiftly rolled Mulder onto his back and poised herself over his chest.

With a seductive flick of her hair the roles were reversed and Scully began kissing Mulder along his neck from his earlobe to his clavicle and rotating her hips against his already swollen member. She reached down between them, while continuing her exploration down Mulder's chest, licking and sucking, and took hold of his penis, stroking it and feeling the wetness that had already started to form at its tip. She flicked her thumb over its head and felt Mulder buck against her in response. Stopping and looking down at him, she smiled seductively, flicked her hair again and sat up, bracing herself on her knees, and lowering herself down onto him once again; slowly taking his length deeply into her and beginning a slow painful rhythm as Mulder moaned and held her tightly by the hips.

"Slow down woman," Mulder moaned enjoying every harsh push as she leaned on his chest and ever fluid motion as she moved her hips.

Scully leaned in again, resting her hand and her fore arms on his muscular chest as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down to him. Her breath caught in her throat as she moved even closer seeking his lips, and drinking deeply of them as he returned the passion.

Swiftly Mulder flexed, sat up, and cradled Scully's bottom in his lap, crossing his legs under her, stopping the motion and forcing himself even deeper into her. She gasped at the shock but quickly settled into the embrace, feeling every muscle within her continue to react to their unity and the searing heat that had passed over both of their bodies. Mulder began again, biting at her bottom lip and forcing his tongue into her mouth as he stroked and caressed her shoulders and her back. Scully slipped her arms around his neck, and leaned back as he held her and kissed along her jaw and down to her should.

"Alright, that's enough," Scully stated as the pressure and the need for more friction became too much. She pushed Mulder back onto his back and down into the pillows as she raised her self up and brought herself back down along his penis. Mulder moaned at the sighed and at the feel of her authoritative gesture and reached out to give her some stability and to help guide her as she continued her movement. With each downward movement from Scully, Mulder thrust up, and in this way they fell into a stead rhythm until the pressure became to much and Scully leaned in to support herself resting her hands on his chest but keeping up their pace.

"It happens with the exchange of bodily fluids," Scully cried as she dug her nails into Mulder's bare chest, as she poised herself and rocked with each of Mulder's movements, feeling the pressure building within her and knowing that she was close to her climax.

"What?" Mulder moaned, close to his own climax and incoherent to any rational thought.

"Oh Fox!" Scully tried to form her thoughts into words but the cloudiness of her bliss and the force of his movements were making every though and every words a chore, "pressure…heat…" she cried as the full force of her orgasm hit her and she leaned heavily into Mulder panting for breath and shivering with ecstasy.

"So hot," Mulder panted as he reached out to support Scully and continued wildly with his own movements.

With every passing moment, and every additional thrust, Scully was released from the dizzying force of her climax and her thoughts began to form cohesively again. Suddenly she stopped him, pulled away, and rolled off before he had finished.

"Mulder don't you get it, if we can somehow trigger the chemical change out side of the body then we can prove that Max is our killer," Scully stated as she rushed to pick up her clothing that lay strewn around her bed room.

"What are you talking about, come back," Mulder moaned.

"The exchange of body fluids between Max and our victims is causing the chemical change. There is something in his blood, in his saliva, in his semen that causes the reaction and the heat, the pressure and the blood flow within the bodies of his victims, as well as the act of intercourse, cause the perfect conditions for gold formation," Scully stated pulling on her shirt.

"That's what you were thinking about?" Mulder asked angrily, trying to hide his frustration at being cut off.

"No, it just came to me, like an epiphany," Scully stated walking out of the room. "That's just what you do to me, Mulder." She called back to him as she shuffled around her apartment.

"But you could have waited until I came too," Mulder sighed as he lifted himself out of bed and began gathering his clothing.

"Oh, just give me a few minutes to review the file and we can get back to it," She shouted from her living room.

"By then we'll have to start all over again," Mulder sighed still aching for more but knowing that she'd be too distracted now. "I'm having a shower," he called out to her and took himself away to complete what they had started; feeling like the friends with benefits, wasn't much of a benefit after all.


	17. Chemistry

Chapter 17: Chemistry.

When Scully was once gain satisfied with her ideas, had jotted them down and had listed the course of action that she was going to take once she returned to work the following day, she once again went searching for Mulder, but he had moved on and she listened as the shower ran. She knew that the sudden termination of their actions was going to leave Mulder unhappy, but she felt justified with the ideas that had just popped into her head. She took herself back to bed, stripped her self of all of her clothing and climbed in to wait for Mulder. She listened as he finished in the showed and began mulling about the apartment until he returned to her bed. Within the darkness Mulder was finally gratified. Finding Scully sprawled out and waiting for him once again was all that he needed to reinitiate his arousal and he was not disappointed with her playfulness of her agility the remainder of the evening.

By morning, however, they were back to their work relationship with new ideas and new experiments to explore. One night of passion had filled both of their head with answers to their questions but no proof to back them up. At least, by morning, Scully had put her anxiety aside and was ready to face the day once again.

The drive back to work was spent in high conversation on what they could or couldn't do to find the proof they needed, and it all came down to the forensic evidence they had found and what they may or may not learn for the other victims in the case. Mulder and Scully parted ways again in the basement of the building, as Scully rushed off to the lab and Mulder began reviewing the other cases that had been lumped together with their current case. The X-file that he held and perused was growing thicker and thicker with every passing day, and it was becoming clear that if their ideas were not correct they would soon be dealing with more dead bodies.

By mid morning Mulder had begun to see the connections that Scully had been making. All the women did deal with metals, but not just any metals, precious minerals that in their raw forms would be found in the same conditions as the gold that they were finding outside of its natural conditions. And the more he thought about the sex, the more he began to realize that Scully was right in assuming that it would cause the perfect conditions for gold production. He began to wonder if, coupled with the sexual encounter and the mixing of body fluids, the contact with metal was the key to his profile. The more the thought about it, the more it started to make sense and he started to list all of the profession in which someone could have contact with the minerals that were involved. Quickly his list became quite long and the idea that almost any woman could possibly be the next victim came to his mind.

Mulder was shaken out of his thoughts as the phone rang and he answered it.

"Mulder it's me, you might want to come up here and take a look at this," Scully said, the hint of excitement on her voice.

"What have you found?" Mulder asked as he stood, pulled his jacket on and gathered the file.

"We got him Mulder, you better get up here." She stated and hung up the phone.

Scully sat patiently staring at the slides under the microscope as Mulder walked into the lab. She pushed the chair away from the desk and looked up at him, a smirk across her face.

"Check it out," she stated motioning toward the microscope. "What do you see?"

"Gold," Mulder gasped as he saw the crystals through the microscope.

"That's right," Scully practically sang.

"How did you do this?" he asked shocked that they had come up with the right idea.

"Well, when I got up here I found this waiting for me." Scully stated, "These are the trace results as well as the DNA matches from the sample that we got from Max. He's a match to the hairs that were found in Emily's apartment as well as the semen that we got off of her body. So I thought if I can run his biological materials with a controlled sample I might be able to get the gold to form, like it did in the victim's blood. So using the swab I took and some blood that I had, I tried that, but nothing happened. So I tried adding some thinking more to the blood and I used the remains of the semen that we took from off of our last victim and voila!" she explained as she pointed to the microscope.

"Whose blood did you us?" Mulder asked still staring into the microscope.

"Mine, it was readily available." She stated.

"And what did you add to it?" He asked.

"Additional iron," she stated.

"Crazy," Mulder stated as he sat down before her. "So we can make more gold just like this? We can be millionaires after all?"

"No Mulder," Scully sighed and stared at him disapprovingly.

"Well I can say one thing," Mulder smirked trying not to laughed knowing that he had annoyed his partner enough with his gold obsession.

"What is that?" She asked rolling her eyes knowing that he was taking great pleasure in mocking and teasing her.

"You've cracked this case!" He smiled. "At my expense, but you cracked it none the less."

"Not bad for a non-believer?" Scully teased, as she winked at him and saucily tossed her hair.

"We have enough to pick him up." Mulder stated standing and practically running out of the lab, "Come on G-woman. We have lives to save!" he winked and walked out of the lab.

Scully shook her head, laughed and followed her partner. Even in the midst of something so terrible they were able to joke and have fun. It was the key to their partnership and ultimately their relationship. He would make her mad, she would drive him to the brinks of insanity and yet it always came down to this same loving and playful relationship that they shared.


	18. The Porn Shop

Chapter 18: The Porn Shop.

The proper documentation was easily obtained and picked up. The warrants issued by means of their superiors and Mulder and Scully set off in search of the man whom they knew to be their killer. Feeling confident enough that they would find Max before he killed again, Mulder sped through the streets and back toward the familiar shop he knew all too well, although he didn't visit as often since he and Scully had come to a certain agreement. The shop was quiet as they walked in and found Jim, the store manager, standing behind the desk yelling into his phone.

"Spooky, I can't deal with you right now," Jim said angrily as he saw the agents walk in.

"You're going to have to," Scully stated flashing her badge.

"I know you're a G-Woman, but I got my own problems, Sweetie," Jim stated fumbling with the phone and his address book.

"Where's Max," Mulder asked impatiently.

"Hell if I know," Jim said slamming the phone down onto the counter. "He was supposed to open today. We had a major delivery arriving this morning, but did the little ass hole show up? Now I have to pay the late charges and the transport charges to have the trucks come back and I need to get one of my other good for nothing employees to come in to work in Max's place while I go over to that little shits apartment and rip him a new one!" Jim stated fuming with anger.

"Not a good idea," Mulder said. "Give us the address so we can pick him up."

"Don't you have better things to be doing than helping me out?" Jim asked angrily.

"Not when he's wanted for murder," Scully stated and watched as the man's face went white.

"Murder? You gotta be kidding Beautiful, he's no murderer. A useless third tit maybe but not a murderer," Jim stated his tone changing, his manner changing and his all together composure failing him.

"Sorry pal, but we have enough evidence to take him in," Mulder stated.

"So are you going to give us that address or not?" Scully asked.

"Sure, whatever you need," Jim said handing his address book across the counter and waiting as Scully took down the address. "Should I be worried if he does show up here?" he asked after a long silence, the colour leaching out of his face with every passing moment.

"I wouldn't." Mulder stated. "If he does show up, keep him busy, bitch him out for being later or whatever you need to do to get him to believe that you know nothing about this, and then find a way to call us and we'll come back."

"He probably won't show up," Scully added hoping to make the man feel better. Her professional medical opinion was that the perverted porn shop manager was about to faint and she was not looking forward to having to be the first responder if he did, "he's probably onto us by now, or was as soon as we left yesterday. He's probably gone underground to get away with what he's done, but we're on it, and he's not going to get away with this anymore."

"How bad is it?" Jim asked eying Mulder. "Am I going to be in trouble for having him around here?"

"No, you had no idea about his deviant behaviour." Mulder stated. "We can't discuss the particulars in the case, but it's bad."

"Man, Spooky, this is too much for me," The manager stated as he fell into a chair. "You know, aside for the taboo against the sex market, its one of the most honest professions. Everyone knows what you do, they see right through the façade and most of the time we don't put up a front. So people think we're perverted, but at least we're honest about it. It wouldn't surprise me if you came in and told me that I was selling my shit to felons and the worst of society cause I know that, but one of my employees. That kid never bought a single thing here. He worked hard, did his job, and didn't complain. I didn't suspect a thing." He explained his breathing returning to normal but his composure was still very shaken by the turn of events.

"I'm not surprised." Mulder stated trying to comfort the guy and Scully agreed with him. "If you were in our position, this wouldn't surprise you. We've seen some messed up shit in our years on the job. This guy fits into the profile though. He's a psychopath and most of the population would never know it."

"Well you had better go, G-man, and get that scum off the streets before he hurts someone else." Jim stated taking a deep breath and placing his phone and his address book back into the desk. "I never would have said this before, Spooky, cause I don't really believe in the FBI or what they stand for, but sometimes it's good to have pros like you on the job."

"Thanks Man," Mulder smiled and led Scully out of the porn shop.

"I wasn't expecting him to take it that badly," Scully stated finally voicing her surprised at the reaction of the store manager.

"You'd be surprised," Mulder laughed, "he's a good guy. Married, two kids, church going, gives to all kinds of charitable organizations and volunteers twice a week at a local soup kitchen; like he said, he's honest and people know what his profession is. But that doesn't mean he's a bad guy. He just falls under the taboo."

"I never would have guess," Scully stated in utter shock.

"You can't always read people I guess." Mulder laughed.

"Did you expect to find the guy still here?" Scully asked as they got into the car and she pulled her cell out of her pocket.

"No, but I knew we'd get the guys information from Jim, so it wasn't a waist of time. Now we can call for back up, put his face all over the boards and get this guy into custody." Mulder stated.

"I'll get right on it," Scully stated as she dialed the bureau and then the local authorities and began her sweep to put the name and face of a killer out there for all to see.


	19. Escape

Chapter 19: Escape.

After a long day of searching, and frustration at not finding Max, Mulder and Scully found themselves back at her apartment. It was a lot of leg work. They tracked Max as far as they could, but his apartment was deserted, everything was left in a shambles and they had to call in forensics once again to investigate the disaster of an apartment that their meticulous killer had left behind.

"He left the porn shop yesterday, went back to his place, trashed the join and then split," Mulder stated as he fell into one of the arm chairs in Scully's living room.

"This pisses me off, Mulder, we were so close!" Scully stated as she slumped onto the couch across from him.

"We can't do anything else," Mulder stated, "we did our best, now it's up to the local and state law enforcement to find him. They have everything that they need. His picture was all over the local news; if he has split he had better leave the state and even if he does his face will be all over CNN and the country will know about it."

"I still have a horrible feeling about this," Scully stated as she stood and began to pace. "He flew under the radar for so long, what if there are more cases out there that we don't know of because of dirty cops who just wanted the gold that they found. This guy has pulled the wool over our eyes, and just fell through the cracks again. If he just disappeared it's going to cause us more trouble. What if he gets far enough to get out of the country? What then?" She asked.

"Don't worry, they'll find him," Mulder stated watching his partner and seeing in her a determination and nervousness that he had seen before. This case had really gotten to her and she would not be easy again until she knew that this kid, this murderer, was behind bars. "Come on, Dana, you have to calm down. There isn't anything else we can do until we catch the guy. Tomorrow we'll retrace his steps through our file and see if we can build a pattern for the police. We'll do all of our research, find out where he was born, where he lived and what he's done all his life. We'll find him, he won't get away."

Scully sighed as she paced, her mind was working quickly, painting pictures and scenarios that she had already been through, and making herself even more uneasy with every passing moment.

"What is it, Dana, what's going on?" Mulder asked finally feeling uneasy himself and standing to pace with her.

"Man Mulder, this guy has gotten under my skin," Scully stated almost fearfully, "he is Donnie Pfaster, and he is Eugene Toombs, he's even Duane Berry."

"You think he's going to come here?" Mulder asked.

"I don't know, but this feels like those times." Scully stated.

"You want to go back to my place?" He asked taking her hand.

"No, I'm not a coward and he's not going to chase me out of my apartment, but I don't want you to leave," She stated finally raising her eyes to meet his.

"I'm not going anywhere." He said and pulled her back to the couch. "We're not going anywhere and I'm not leaving until we know that this guy is safely behind bars."

"Thank you," she smiled.

The evening passed in a strange and almost uncomfortable passing of time. Scully, though Mulder had kept his word and stayed, was still uneasy. She tried to sit with him and watch the baseball highlights but she couldn't settle herself. She cleaned, she cooked, and she even dismantled her weapon, cleaned it, oiled it and reloaded it. It was never far from her the whole evening. She jumped when the sports news was interrupted for the crime bulletin and the forensic sketch of Max flashed across the screen.

"See, everyone knows that ugly mug now," Mulder stated as she came and sat beside him again.

"I've seen quite enough already," Scully sighed.

Once the sports news resumed and Mulder was content with what he had seen and the results of his office sports pool, one of the only inner office activities he participated in, Mulder convince Scully that they should try to get some rest, as they would have to show up at work the following day like nothing had happened. Scully agreed with his assessment of their current situation and they took themselves off to bed. Mulder could still feel Scully's insecurities as she crawled into bed beside him and though the woman with him could always bring the sparks and arousal that he needed in his life, he could tell that this moment, this embrace she brought to the relationship was nothing more then a plea for comfort and protection. They drifted off to sleep tangled in an embraced that Scully needed and the night passed them by.


	20. Encounter

Chapter 20: Encounter.

Scully awoke first as the sun began to shine through the light drapes that covered her bedroom windows. Mulder still slept soundly, his soft steady breathing passing through her hair as he spooned up behind her and held her tightly. She stirred, feeling far more at ease with the coming of dawn and the rising of the sun, and slipped out of Mulder's embrace to commence her morning routine.

The light sun had started to spill in through most of the windows of the apartment as Scully moved into the kitchen and began making her morning coffee, smelling deeply of the fresh grounds before placing them into the coffee maker and pressing the on button. Suddenly she felt an arm around her waist and she smiled to herself believing it to be Mulder as she leaned into him.

"Good morning," An unfamiliar voice whispered in her ear, breathing heavily on her neck.

Scully tried to scream, as her body tensed at the sound in her ear, but not sound could be made from her mouth as a hand shot up and covered it. The grip on her became tense as she felt the strange man and his arousal through her thin pajamas. Struggling against his hold, Scully felt him pull her toward the floor before she got a glimpse at him. He was pulling at her pajama bottom while breathing heavily into her ear. Scully did the only thing she could think of and kicked and flailed as much as she could trying to get out of his grip as she realized that Max had now pinned her to the floor. She kicked more violently and squirmed trying to make as much noise as she could, the chairs of the dining set rocked, and the table shook but it wasn't enough noise until her napkin holder and salt and pepper shakers were shaken right off the table.

"Is everything ok?" Scully heard Mulder's voice from the bedroom.

Max froze hearing the other person in the apartment.

Scully took advantage of the situation and bit down against Max's hand, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to break the skin. He flinched long enough to let her scream.

Mulder rolled out of bed, panic striking his every muscle as he grabbed his weapon from the pile of cloths he had left beside Scully's bed and rushed out of the bed room, where he saw Max pinning Scully, half naked now, to the floor.

"Get off of her!" Mulder yelled aiming his weapon at the attacker, but Max didn't listen and Scully continue to struggle against him. "I will shoot you," Mulder warned coming up to them now, "Get off of her." he yelled right next to Max, but still he didn't respond.

Mulder, one hand bracing his weapon, reached out with his other to pull the attacker of his partner. As he did Max finally acknowledged that he was present by spinning and biting Mulder's arm, hard enough that Mulder gasped and flinched dropping his weapon and watching as the blood ran down Max's face.

"Something's not right," Mulder stated as he kicked Max as hard as he could and backed away.

The altercation with Mulder was enough to allow Scully to free herself. She wriggled out from under Max and scooped up Mulder's weapon before the attacker turned back to her and as he did he was met, face to face, with the barrel of Mulder's gun.

"Back away," Scully stated forcefully. "Put your hands on top of your head!" she stated seeing the shock in Max's face. He did as he was told. Scully grabbed her handcuffs from beside the door, never letting the gun off Max and cuffed him to the door before lowering the weapon and rushing to Mulder.

"What's happening?" Mulder asked his arm had gone numb as Scully reached out and took hold of him.

"We have to stop the process," Scully said frantically pushing Mulder into a chair as she rushed for her bedroom.

"What is happening?" Mulder asked again, more frantic this time, as he stared down into his own pooling blood. The blood caught the light as the sun crept into the apartment and his eyes grew wide to see what was happening. Within the crimson liquid Mulder could clearly make out the flecks of gold that continued to run down his arm.

Scully returned throwing a bag onto the kitchen table. From it she pulled a long length of surgical tubing and grabbed Mulder's arm. Just below his shoulder she wrapped the surgical tubing around his bicep several times before tying it off as tightly as she could.

"What are you doing?" Mulder asked feeling the pinch of the multi wrapped tubing around his arm and the throbbing that started below it.

"We have to stop the blood flow," Scully stated, while Max growled from the door ways.

"You'll never stop it!" He chuckled.

"Shut up or I'll shoot you," Scully stated.

"You picked the wrong doctor to mess with," Mulder stated as Scully plunged back into her surgical supplies.

She pulled from the back a scalpel, her suchering materials and a large bottle of ammonium peroxide and her latex gloves

"Oh man this is going to hurt," Mulder sighed as he watched the instrument line up before him on the table and the numbness in his arm grew more intense.

Scully got up quickly and ran to the bedroom before returning with Mulder's belt.

"Sorry, Mulder, I don't have anything to numb the pain, so you're going to have to deal with it," Scully stated as she came back and moved the chair to sit down before him.

"What's the belt for," He asked as she snapped on her gloves.

"Bite down hard," Scully instructed as she placed the leather belt in his mouth and picked up the scalpel.

Mulder squirmed at the thought but did as he was told and before he knew it Scully was cutting a deep long gash into his arm with the razor sharp scalpel, just below where the surgical tubing and in the crook of his arm. The blood began to run even heaver now as Scully stared into the pooling liquid. When she seemed to be content with the study of his blood she reached for the bottle of peroxide and poured it heavily into the new wound. Mulder cried out, biting harder against the belt now, as the peroxide burned and bubbled on his arm. She moved to the bite mark and covered it liberally with peroxide as well. Once she was satisfied that the peroxide had done its job she began cleaning the wound and suchering the large incision she had made.

"Am I going to be ok Doc?" Mulder asked still bound by the surgical tubing and incredibly sore from the lack of antithetic.

"In theory I think so," Scully stated eyeing Max angrily. "The peroxide won't neutralize the gold that is already in your blood stream but it will stop the chemical change. My hope is that your body will absorb the gold, as it is non toxic, and your system will clear it, but I do want you to go the hospital for some tests and to make sure that once I remove the surgical tubing you don't die."

"At least there I will get some antithetic," Mulder stated teasingly.

"I'm sorry," Scully cooed and then picked up the phone. "This is agent Dana Scully of the FBI, my badge number is JTT0331613. I have a suspect in custody, requesting backup and immediate medical attention." She stated into the phone before raising the weapon once more and training it on Max. "You really did pick the wrong doctor to mess with," Scully stated and waited for her backup to arrive.


	21. Change of Heart

Chapter 21: Change of Heart.

Mulder, bandaged from his wrist to elbow, stood staring through the double pain glass of the holding cell that held his attacker, as his beautiful and saucy partner joined him in the hallway of the correctional facility.

"Well that's another notch in your bedpost, isn't it Agent Scully," Mulder stated sarcastically.

"Jealous?" Scully laughed. "I just scored myself another appearance in the X-files. I'm think that puts me ahead of the pack."

Mulder chuckled.

"This suspect had been tied to two more of our other victims. He's going away for a long time, and in the name of science, he's being quite cooperative. He's allowed some of his blood to be taken in and experimented on by Doctor McMillan and his faculty at the university." Scully stated handing the case file back to Mulder.

"Someone else is going to get rich before we do," Mulder sighed.

Scully rolled her eyes, "Well maybe, if you get on his good side, he'll give you some of that blood you need." She giggled.

"He does look kinda bored in there." Mulder stated looking back through the window.

"Maybe you should bring him some of the videos that aren't yours. You don't really need them anymore, do you?" Scully asked slyly.

"I do not," Mulder smiled. "But I don't think he'd appreciate the art in them."

"Art!" Scully laughed. "That's what you call it?"

Mulder shrugged a silence fell between them.

"You may want to think about finding a new place. Four different home invasions are a bit much." Mulder said seriously now as he looked down into his partner's brilliant eyes.

"Or I could just look for a unit that isn't at ground level." Scully stated.

"You found out how he got in?" Mulder asked. "I just don't get how we didn't hear it."

"He cut through one of my front windows, a whole big enough for his arm to fit through, and unlatched it. He climbed in, closed it and locked it, and then he waited," Scully stated.

"It's a good thing I was there," Mulder stated slyly, "or this could have been you." he added as he motioned to the massive bandage on his arm.

"No, I would have been the next victim on the coroners slab." Scully stated seriously. "Thank you for being there, Mulder."

"Well, just goes to show how great your intuition is," Mulder stated a little embarrassed by last comment. "You knew something was up."

"Lucky for you," Scully smiled noticing the blush on her partners face, "I mean, you were the one that wanted all that gold and now it's actually in your veins," she said teasingly.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Mulder said.

"I'm sorry," Scully smiled, "but I had to do something."

"You saved my life," Mulder smiled, "but I am still going to hold it over you for a long time. Especially considering you inflicted that much pain!"

Scully laughed at her partners whining.

"I'm just glad that sex helped you solve the case," Mulder stated his arm aching and his pride still hurt by her leadership and connection with the case. "Glad I am useful for something."

"You see 'friends with benefits' was a good idea," Scully laughed.

Mulder remained silently staring into the window of their attacker's cell.

"Don't pout Mulder you'll get what's coming to you." Scully smiled playfully as they walked out of the secured facility and back to the car. "Besides, you did save my life. I was supposed to die today."

"All in a days work." Mulder smiled and fell into the passenger seat, "now take me home and doctor me, woman! I have a pain that needs some of your expert attention."

"I beg your pardon?" Scully asked rolling her eyes. "You are going back to your office to finish your file and submit it on time, because you were the one that wanted to fly under the radar on this one. So you get to do what you initially had planned for this easy case that you dragged me into. Our new start on the X-files proved to be a success, so we had better do something right for once."

"But I'm injured!" Mulder whined motioning to the large bandage on his arm.

"Would you have rather I let your arm turn to gold by my attackers Midas bite?" Scully asked as they drove. "Because I could have, the thought did cross my mind seeing as you were so intrigued and fevered over the gold we had already found."

"I'm totally over the gold now, and I am very glad you decided to save my arm." Mulder said. "I need that arm for very important things," he added with a wink.

"I don't want to know Mulder," Scully stated and continued to drive because it was just another day in the life of the X-files.

The End


End file.
